


Love and Other Vices

by mingularitae



Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pride and Prejudice Fusion, Balls and Dances, Bantering, Bennets are now Kims, Drama, Enemies to Lovers, Forgive me Jane :(, Jimin as Mr. Darcy, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope & Park Jimin are Best Friends, Kim Seokjin | Jin & Kim Taehyung | V are Siblings, Love Confessions, Marriage Proposal, Misunderstandings, Multi, Mutual Pining, Period Typical Attitudes, Slow Burn, Tae calls Jimin Mr. Park, Taejin Are Soft Cuties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:15:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 45,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28077567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mingularitae/pseuds/mingularitae
Summary: It becomes apparent that Mr. Park will, in fact, not sit down when he starts pacing the room in the most awkward manner. He faces Taehyung, opens his mouth as if to say something, then seems to think better of it and walks to the fireplace. Finally, he speaks. In retrospect, Taehyung wishes he hadn’t.“In vain I have struggled,” he starts, voice uncharacteristically shaky and looking anywhere but at his audience. “It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”o o oOr, the Pride & Prejudice fic I wanted to read, starring Kim Taehyung as Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Park Jimin as Mr. Darcy and featuring no less than three marriage proposals, copious amounts of pining and more plot twists than any kdrama. There is never a dull moment in the Kim household.
Relationships: Jung Hoseok | J-Hope/Kim Seokjin | Jin, Kim Taehyung | V/Park Jimin
Comments: 28
Kudos: 86





	1. Netherfield

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! There I was, minding my own business on a cold winter night and watching the 1995 BBC Pride & Prejudice miniseries when I was suddenly hit with big vmin energy... and so after a long block I wrote all this in a few days while I should have been studying for an exam instead :)  
> Hope you like it! 
> 
> Things that must be said before we start:
> 
> 1\. Welcome, first time with Pride & Prejudice? No panic, as long as you don't mind me popping your cherry! This just follows the story, so everything should be clear even if the period language does make it quite dense in parts. 
> 
> 2\. After careful consideration, I used the script from the 1995 series for the dialogues, because anything I come up with can only be a pale imitation of it at best. So no, I DO NOT CLAIM to have written most of what follows, which is why this was more of a project than a fic, I guess. All I did was 'dress' the squeleton with anything that isn't between quotation marks, trying my best to match the style. However, this does stray from the script in some places. 
> 
> 3\. So obviously I changed the gender of some characters. Just pretend I didn't, or that this is some kind of alternate 18th century society with a kind of implicit omegaverse vibe. 
> 
> 4\. Talking of 18th century society, it might be kind of difficult to understand the character's motivations if you aren't vaguely familiar with its rigid mentality. So here's all the context you should need: the purpose of women is to marry well and make babies, and therefore they must stay 'pure'. There are strict codes of conduct (for instance, one does not talk to anyone without having been introduced by a third party), and that's all I can think of for now. 
> 
> 5\. Jane Austen liked to make fun of society, and so a lot of her characters are ridiculous and stupid and/or nasty, and not always described in a particularly tender way. Me picking a particular idol for the role is not hating on them. They were picked because they fit general aesthetic I was going for and for coherency of surname. 
> 
> Voilà!

“Give me back my bonnet, Yerim, or I swear I shall never talk to you again!” Dahyun professes dramatically, running after her sister.

The threat doesn’t seem to bother the other, who simply giggles and raises the garment above her head to taunt the older girl. Taehyung doesn’t spare their argument a thought, used to the sound of their constant bickering. Instead he inhales the crisp morning air, savouring the way he imagines his lungs to make space for it, cherishing its gift of life. 

“You shouldn’t be so upset, Dahyunnie,” Yerim says. Taehyung is looking at the rolling countryside around them, but he knows that if he were to turn his head he’d see a pout on her face. “It’s ugly anyways. In fact, if I dropped it, I believe I would be doing you a favour!”

“You wouldn’t!” Dahyun gasps, making Taehyung chuckle in spite of himself. His sisters are without a doubt amongst the silliest girls in England, and yet he wouldn’t change them for the world. 

The older lunges, eyes not leaving her target which was certainly not one of her best purchases, Taehyung silently agrees. Yerim squeals in delight, dodging to one side and straight into her brother. Taehyung holds onto her and together they regain their balance, thankfully. Not that Taehyung minds falling into the dirt once in a while, but it did rain yesterday. 

The bonnet does, in fact, slip from Yerim’s grasp and fall to the muddy ground. 

“Oops,” she exhales guiltily when she notices, hiding her mouth with a gloved hand. 

Dahyun whines about it being ruined while Taehyung merely rolls his eyes at their antics. If only this were the first time, he thinks to himself. He increases his pace, trying to put some distance between him and his younger siblings’ dispute. 

“I’m sure Mamma will agree to you purchasing another, Dahyunnie,” he reassures her once they’ve caught up with him, not ten feet away from Longbourn - their legs are shorter than his own, he supposes. Dahyun offers him a small smile. Taehyung isn’t worried since experience has proven their moods to be as changeable as coastal weather. The resentment will be forgotten as soon as gossip comes her way, he’s certain. 

They meet Lady Jeon coming out of the house as they go in. She greets them excitedly and reminds them of the ball that is to be held next week in Meryton. As if his sisters would ever let him forget about it, Taehyung thinks. 

They’ve barely had time to take off their coats when they hear their mother’s high-pitched voice calling them to her side. 

“Taehyungie! Dahyunnie, Yerim-ah! Come, come, my children, you must hear the news at once!”

The younger share a look of glee and rush to the drawing room. Taehyung is in no such haste, he doubts that whatever information his mother gathered from Lady. Jeon’s visit this morning will be of much interest to him. 

“How was Meryton?” enquires a familiar voice from behind him. Taehyung turns to find his brother, looking as fair as an italian renaissance painting with his soft, handsome features and freshly cut flowers in his hands. 

“Hasn’t been displaced since the last time we were there,” he jokes. Taehyung doesn’t have much in his life to complain about, but sometimes he does find its monotonous nature tedious. They both do. “Poppies won’t last long, you know, once cut,” he comments, pointing down at Seokjin’s light burden. 

“I know,” the other sighs, “but aren’t they pretty?” 

Taehyung follows him into the kitchen, pours water in a vase while the elder cuts the stalks. Sideways, so that they’ll last longer. It smells delicious, and Taehyung feels a rush of gratitude for their cook and maid, who are busying themselves with preparations for their lunch while carefully averting their gaze from their young masters. 

“So, have you heard the news?” 

Taehyung looks up. There’s a teasing twinkle in Seokjin’s bright eyes. 

“Not yet, no…” he prompts. His brother merely smiles. “Out with it!” Taehyung exclaims impatiently, making Seokjin laugh. 

“Netherfield Park is let, at last!”

“Well I’m sure we shall be good neighbours with whoever comes to live there,” Taehyung states. “How does that affect us?” 

“It doesn’t. But you know Mamma,” Seokjin says with a long-suffering sigh. “If it were up to her, she’d have had us marry the four first gentlemen we were presented to, so long as they were rich enough for her taste.”

“Of course. Ah, how I pity the one she’d pick for Yerim,” he teases good-naturedly, referring to his sister’s impetuous character.

Netherfield Park’s new occupant is, as predicted, the conversation topic at lunch that day. 

“And do you not want to know who has taken it?” their mother addresses their father, recounting the tale of Lady Jeon’s news in between two mouthfuls of broad beans. 

“You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it,” Mr. Kim obliges. 

“Why, then, it is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England. A single man of large fortune, my dear! He came down on Monday to see the place. His name is Jung Hoseok, and he is rich! What a fine thing for our children.”

Their father looks up from his plate, and scans his children’s faces. Seokjin and Taehyung exchange a glance, both finding his feigned cluelessness and their mother’s subsequent frustration amusing. 

“How so? How can it affect them?”

“Oh, Mr. Kim, how can you be so tiresome? You must know that I’m thinking of his marrying one of them!” she bursts out. 

Taehyung can’t help making fun of her seriousness, not when they all know how unlikely such an event would be. “A single man in possession of a good fortune must be in great want of a wife or husband, for sure. It is lucky that he finally made his way to Hertfordshire, for I fear London’s offer of potential brides must be lacking in comparison.”

“Indeed! And who better than one of our four children?” adds their father. 

Dahyun lets out an undignified guffaw. Their mother’s stern look only seems to spur her laughter on. 

“What a fine joke if he were to choose me!” says Yerim. 

Mr. Kim clears his throat. “So, that is his design in settling here, to marry one of our children?” 

“Design? Oh, how can you talk such nonsense!” Mrs. Kim enquires rhetorically before speaking some herself. “But you know, he may very likely fall in love with one of them.”

She looks so sure of herself, and Taehyung would find it amusing if it weren’t for the slight longing her words spur inside of him. For what is the purpose of a country gentleman’s offspring’s youth if not using it to obtain the favours of a wealthy person, especially when genetics and law forbid said offspring to inherit their father’s albeit meager fortune? As much as Taehyung dislikes the thought, his and his siblings’ prospects are rather bleak. 

“You’re in the right, my dear,” Mr. Kim declares appeasingly. “I shall write to Mr. Jung, informing him that I have four children, and he’s welcome to any of them that he chooses.” 

“Oh, you take delight in vexing me!” complains his wife. “You have no compassion on my poor nerves.” 

“You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They’ve been my old friends these past twenty years at least.”

o o o

Taehyung wraps the shawl around his shoulders more securely and sinks into the feather pillows on his brother’s bed while Seokjin applies some ointment or other to his already glowing skin. It’s their evening routine, to gather in one another’s bedroom and talk to their heart’s content.

“If I could love someone who would love me enough to take me despite our poverty, I should be very pleased,” he muses. Seokjin interrupts his circular motions on his cheeks to nod his agreement. “But such a man could hardly be sensible, and you know I could never love a man who was out of his wits,” Taehyung goes on, smiling at the cracks in the ceiling. 

Seokjin chuckles. 

“Oh, Taehyung-ah. A marriage where either partner cannot love or respect the other…” he sighs at his reflection,”That cannot be agreeable.”

“As we have daily proof. But beggars, you know, cannot be choosers.” 

Seokjin finally turns to look at his younger brother. 

“We are not very poor, Taehyungie,” he reasons. 

“With father’s estate entailed away from our line, we have little but our charms to recommend us. One of us at least will have to marry very well. And since you are quite five times as handsome as the rest of us, and have the sweetest disposition, I fear the task will fall on you to raise our fortunes.” 

Taehyung is joking, but they both know it isn’t actually funny. Not when it hits so close to home. 

“But, Taehyung, I would wish… I should so much like… to marry for love,” he admits in a whisper. 

“And so you shall!” Taehyung says reassuringly, getting up to wrap his arms around his brother’s broad shoulders. This is how their relationship goes a lot of the time, even though Taehyung is the youngest, because he believes his brother is simply too good for this world. He rests his head on Seokjin’s brown curls and looks into the mirror. “I’m sure. Only, take care you fall in love with a man of good fortune.”

They both laugh at that. 

“Well, I shall try… to please you,” Seokjin agrees. “And you?”

“I am determined that nothing but the very deepest love will induce me into matrimony,” Taehyung states confidently. “So, naturally, I shall end a bachelor with no other purpose in life but be an uncle to your ten children.”

Seokjin bats his hands off him playfully, but Taehyung doesn’t miss the pleased flush on his cheeks. Seokjin will make a wonderful father someday, and Taehyung can’t wait to see it. 

o o o

Taehyung sways gently to the music, watching his sisters dance to the sound of the quartet on the opposite side of the Jeons’ ballroom. It’s been a week since the news of Netherfield being let has broken, but the room is once again abuzz with gossip - moreso, Taehyung notes with amusement, on the couch where his mother, Lady Jeon and a few others are seated, exchanging hushed whispers and gasps half-hidden behind their fans. The suspense will be over soon, much to their disappointment, as Jung Hoseok and his party are said to be attending the gathering. So far, all that can be said is that they are late.

“Such an important gentleman must make a grand entrance, I suppose,” Seokjin answers wisely when his brother remarks on it.

And make a grand entrance he does. A hush takes over the room when the illustrious guests set foot in the ballroom. Two men and a woman, dressed in clothes finer than the Kim siblings could ever afford. Sir Jeon, ever the pleasant host, greets them warmly. 

“Jeongguk, do you know which is Jung Hoseok?” Seokjin whispers as the three of them try hard not to forget their manners and stare openly. 

“The one in the middle, I believe,” replies their younger friend. “To his left is his sister, Jung Wheein, and the other gentleman is a friend of his.”

“They are very elegant,” Taehyung comments, his tone only slightly laced with jealous undertones. 

“Seokjin! Taehyung!” comes their mother’s familiar voice, calling them over to her side of the room not-so-discreetly. Seokjin rolls his eyes but leads the way nonetheless. 

“You see that gentleman there?” she continues as soon as they are by her side, indicating the one who hasn’t already been identified as Mr. Jung. “Lady Jeon has just told me he’s Mr. Jung’s oldest friend. His name is Park Jimin, and he has a mighty fortune, and a great estate in Derbyshire. Jung Hoseok’s wealth is nothing to his! Don’t you think he’s the handsomest man you’ve ever seen?” 

Taehyung hums, considering. “I wonder if he’d be quite so handsome if he was not quite so rich?” he mocks. 

In truth, the gentleman is rather handsome, no denying it. Taehyung has always been partial to men of a shorter stature, and his features are positively angelic. 

“Oh, Taehyung, whatever shall I do with you,” she laments. “Oh! Smile, my boys, they’re walking towards us!” 

Sure enough, the famous Jung Hoseok is soon in front of them, smiling brightly. He seems kind, Taehyung notes happily before bowing his head respectfully. 

“Mr. Jung, may I introduce Mrs. Kim and her children?” says Sir Jeon. 

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, sir,” replies their mother. “This is Seokjin, my eldest, and Taehyung. Dahyun and Yerim, my youngests, are there somewhere, dancing. Do you like to dance yourself, Mr. Jung?” she enquires politely.

“There is nothing I love better, Madam. And if the eldest Kim sibling is not otherwise engaged, may I be so bold as to claim the next two dances.”

“I am not engaged,” Seokjin confirms, taking the hand that is offered to him. 

Taehyung bites his lip and reminds himself to tease his brother about his blush later on. Then again, maybe he shouldn’t, seeing as both parties seem quite utterly charmed with one another. 

“And you, sir? Are you fond of dancing?” Mrs. Kim calls out the third gentleman in the party, even though they haven’t yet been introduced. The lack of manners makes her son flinch internally. 

Everyone is taken aback by her remark, Park Jimin most of all, but Mr. Jung thankfully has the presence of mind to react before the unease has a chance to settle. 

“Oh, I beg your pardon. May I present my good friend, Park Jimin?” 

“You are very welcome to Hertfordshire, sir,” declares Taehyung’s mother once they have all bowed again. “And I hope you have come here eager to dance, as your friend has.”

“Thank you, Madam,” Park Jimin says curtly. “I rarely dance.”

He should have chosen his words more carefully, Taehyung thinks, for it sounds like a challenge. And his mother likes those, especially when they involve her offspring in some way or another. 

“Well, let this be one of the occasions, sir. For I wager you’ll not easily find such lively music, or such pretty partners.”

Honestly, Taehyung does love her, but she can be quite socially unaware. A small country ball can hardly compare to the splendours of the gatherings gentlemen such as Park Jimin and Jung Hoseok must undoubtedly be accustomed to. Mr. Park seems to think so too, because he simply bows again and takes his leave without a word. The rejection stings a little, but Taehyung refuses to let the haughty man spoil his evening. 

“Well!” exclaims Mrs. Kim, clearly displeased at the offence. “Did you ever meet such a proud, disagreeable man?”

“Mamma, he will hear you,” Taheyung states plainly, controlling the volume of his voice and relieved that Seokjin and his partner have already left to join the row of dancers. 

“I don’t care if he does! And his friend is so agreeable, and everything charming. Who is this Mr. Park to think himself so far above his company?”

“Well, the very rich can afford to give offence wherever they go. We need not care for his good opinion,” Taehyund reasons. 

“Indeed.”

“Perhaps he’s not so very handsome, after all,” he baits her. 

“No, indeed, quite ill favoured,” she answers, neither realising nor caring about the fact that her son is making fun of her. “Certainly nothing at all to Mr. Jung.” 

Her gaze softens as she looks at the dancers. Seokjin and Jung Hoseok make a proud couple, for sure. All smiles and shy glances, few words exchanged as they flawlessly perform a cotillion. And then another, before Taehyung sees Mr. Jung introduce Seokjin to his sister, much to Mrs. Kim’s obvious delight. 

“Jimin, I must have you dance,” Mr. Jung says to his friend as he and his partner take a short break. “I must. I hate to see you standing about in this stupid manner. Come, you’d much better dance.”

Taehyung is sitting close enough to overhear the other’s reply. He can’t deny his curiosity, for he too had noticed how Mr. Park had conspicuously avoided taken part in the ball in any manner, be it conversation or dancing. 

“I certainly shall not. In an assembly such as this? It would be insupportable.” Insupportable? What an insufferable man he is, Taehyung thinks, what a deceitful contrast to his soft and pleasing appearance. “Your sister is engaged at present. You know perfectly well it would be a punishment for me to stand up with any other person in the room.”

“Good God, Jimin, I wouldn’t be as fastidious as you are for a kingdom! Upon my honour, I never met so many pleasant people in my life. And several of them uncommonly pretty, no?” Mr. Jung goes on, undeterred. 

“You have been dancing with the only handsome person in the room,” Mr. Park concedes. 

“Jimin, he is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld,” Mr. Jung confesses, and Taehyung can’t wait to repeat his words to Seokjin, already anticipating the pleased smile that will grace his features. “Look, look…there’s one of his siblings. He’s very handsome, too. I daresay, very agreeable.”

Oh no. They’re talking about him, Taehyung realises. Hopefully in time to avert his gaze before they notice his eavesdropping. 

“He is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me,” comes the unwanted verdict. “Hoseok, I’m in no humour to give consequence to young pretendants who are slighted by others. Go back to your partner, enjoy his smiles. You’re wasting your time with me.”

Taehyung is highly amused. He would be offended, were he to consider the man high in his esteem. Given his character, Taehyung is fairly sure such an occurrence can be safely erased from the realm of possibilities, and so all he feels as he hears the disobliging remark is eagerness to tell Jeongguk and Seokjin about it. 

o o o

“I beg of you, my dear, no more,” pleads their father when his wife insists on recounting the ball in excruciating detail to him later that night. 

“Oh, but you must hear, Mr. Kim!” she insists. “Mr. Jung favoured Seokjin above every other person in attendance. For he danced the first two with him, and then the next with Jeon Jeongguk, which vexed me greatly. But, lo, there in the very next, nothing would please him but to stand up with Seokjin again. And then, you know, he danced with Taehyung, and then, what do you think he did next?”

“Enough, Madam, enough!” 

“Oh, and his sister! Oh, such a charming woman! So elegant and obliging! The lace on her dress…”

“No lace, Mrs. Kim, I beg of you,” their father grumbles unhappily, making her lightly smack his shoulder with her folded fan in a show disapproval for his disregard. She moves onto another topic nonetheless. 

“But the man he brought with him, Mr. Park, as he calls himself, is not worth our concern. Though he may be the richest man in Derbyshire. The proudest, the most horrid, disobliging – he slighted poor Taehyung, you know, and flatly refused to dance with him.” 

“Slighted my Taehyung, did he?” 

“I didn’t care for him either, father, so it is of little matter,” Taheyung says to appease the man’s protective streak. 

“Another time, Taehyung, I would not dance with him if he should ask you,” his mother pipes in, ever vindictive. 

“I believe I may safely promise you never to dance with Mr. Park,” he affirms confidently. 

o o o 

“And so, none of the Hertfordshire people could please you, Mr. Park?” Wheein asks in her usual seductive manner as they share a late night drink in Netherfield’s library. “Not even the young Mr. Kim?” she adds with a quiet chuckle. 

“Well, I never met with pleasanter people - or prettier - in my life,” says Hoseok. 

“Hoseok, you astonish me. I saw little beauty, and no manners at all,” Jimin affirms. Wheein smirks victoriously. “The eldest Mr. Kim is, I grant you, very pretty.” 

“A fine concession,” agrees Hoseok. “Come, admit it, he’s an angel descended straight from heaven.”

“He smiles too much.”

“Oh, Kim Seokjin is a sweet boy,” Wheein confirms. “His mother, on the other hand!” Her brother doesn’t have much to argue with, there, so she goes on. “I heard Kim Taehyung described as a famous local beauty. What do you say to that, Mr. Park?”

“I should as soon call his mother intelligent,” he says dryly, making her laugh. 

“Oh, Mr. Park, that’s too cruel,” she declares, with feigned shock. 

“Jimin, I shall never understand why you go through the world determined to be displeased with everything and everyone in it,” her brother muses as he downs the last of his port. 

“And I will never understand why you are in such a rage to approve of everything and everyone that you meet,” Jimin says honestly, although this difference of perspective has never got in the way of their friendship before. 

“Well, you shall not make me think ill of Kim Seokjin, Jimin.”

“Indeed, he shall not,” Wheein mediates. “I shall dare his disapproval, and declare he is a dear, sweet boy, despite his unfortunate relations, and I should not be sorry to know him better.”

o o o

“I am very happy for Seokjin,” says Jeongguk a few weeks later, as they are once again gathered at Jeon Lodge for a small party. 

Dahyun is playing the piano - rather badly, one might add, even though her progress since last summer is flagrant - and Yerim is giggling at something one of the officers said. A regiment has settled in Meryton for the winter, though not to defend Hertfordshire from the French or to subdue the discontented populace, as their colonel assured Taehyung. The arrival of all those handsome, young men and women in proud red uniforms is the talk of the town. 

“He does seem very well pleased with him,” Taehyung agrees, thinking back on what he has observed from their last few meetings with the gentleman. “In fact, I think if he continues so, my brother is in a fair way to be very much in love with him.”

“And Mr. Jung, you think he is in love?”

Taehyung hums contentedly. “It is clear that he likes him very much.” 

“Then he should leave him in no doubt of his heart. Seokjin should show more affection, even than he feels, not less, if he is to secure him.”

The thought makes Taehyung laugh, since his brother has always been rather reserved in his affections. He knows how much Seokjin likes Jung Hoseok, of course, since they have talked about it - only yesterday Seokjin was telling him how Mr. Jung was ‘just what a young man ought to be, Taehyung-ah. Sensible and lively!’ - but to show it so plainly would go against Seokjin’s nature. 

“Secure him? Jeongguk,” the elder says, tone chastising and light. 

“Well, yes! He should secure him in as soon as may be.” 

“Before he is sure of his character? Before he is even certain of his own regard for him?”

“But of course,” Jeongguk goes on, manifestly convinced of his own argument. “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance, you know. There will always be vexation, and grief. It is better to know in advance as little as possible of the defects of your marriage partner.” 

Taehyung laughs at his friend’s pessimism. “That is not Seokjin’s way, you know.”

“Then we must hope that Mr. Jung will make the first step. Though I think he gets little encouragement from his sister.”

They both look across the room to the tall lady, who admittedly isn’t putting much effort in hiding her disapproval for their relaxed country manners. Seokjin had told Taehyung he liked her, but then again Seokjin likes everyone. 

“Or his friend,” Taehyung adds. He lets his gaze sweep across the room, looking for the snobbish man. Sure enough, Park Jimin can be found by the bridge table, already fixing him.

“Mr. Park looks at you a great deal, Taehyung-ah,” Jeongguk points out, looking back and forth between the two. 

“I cannot think why,” Taehyung says honestly. “Unless he means to frighten me with his contempt.” That draws a shy giggle out of Jeongguk. “And now, if you will excuse me, I must talk to my sister before she exposes us all to ridicule.” 

Jeongguk nods him off when he sees Yerim laughing and sitting in an all-too-familiar manner next to an unmarried officer. However, Taehyung has barely made it a few steps away when he is called over by their host, Sir Jeon, who is standing next to none other than the gentleman Taehyung was hoping to avoid. 

“Ah, Taehyung! Why are you not dancing? Mr. Park, allow me to present this young man to you as a very desirable partner. You cannot refuse to dance, I’m sure, when so much beauty is before you.” 

“Indeed, sir, I have not the least intention of dancing,” Taehyung cuts him off before the situation has a chance to turn even more disastrous than it did during his last encounter with Mr. Park at the Meryton ball. He desperately wishes to spare himself the pain of a second rejection.

However, the rather short man seems better disposed this time around. “I would be very happy if you would do me the honour of dancing with me, Mr. Kim,” says Mr. Park, much to Taehyung’s surprise. 

“Thank you, but excuse me, I am not inclined to dance,” he repeats stubbornly. He did promise not to, after all. 

“Come, come, why not?” Sir Jeon insists, oblivious to Taehyung’s plight. “When you see Mr. Park has no objection, although he dislikes amusement so much in general.”

Taehyung laughs uneasily, unable to sustain Mr. Park’s unwavering gaze on him. “Mr. Park is all politeness,” he offers. 

“He is, and why should he not be, considering the inducement? For who could object to such a partner?” Sir Jeon looks over to Mr. Park for confirmation of his words, and Taehyung knows he won’t be able to stand the humiliation. 

“I beg you to excuse me,” he bows, putting an end to the conversation and hoping that Jeongguk’s father won’t find him irreparably impolite. 

While Taehyung is busy asking his youngest sister to behave, Wheein approaches Mr. Park, who is still watching his seemingly forever-lost dance partner. 

“I believe I can guess your thoughts at this moment,” she practically murmurs in his ear. 

“I should imagine not,” he replies simply.

“You are thinking how insupportable it would be to spend many evenings in such tedious company,” she mocks. She faces him, and fixes her posture so as to look at her best advantage in her blue silk gown. Not that Jimin cares for it, but she doesn’t seem to understand that. 

“No, indeed, my mind was more agreeably engaged,” he reveals. “I was thinking of how a pair of fine eyes in the face of a handsome man can make it so much more pleasing.” 

This surprises Wheein. “And may one dare ask whose are the eyes that inspired these reflections?”

“Kim Taehyung’s.” 

She doesn’t have much to answer to that. 

o o o

A letter comes for Seokjin a few days later. 

“From Netherfield! Oh, Seokjin!” their mother shouts out excitedly. “Well, what does it say?”

“It is from Miss Jung,” Seokjin tells her. “She invites me to dine with her today, la-dee-da, la-dee-da,” he fills in as he scans the contents of the letter. “... as the gentlemen are to dine with the officers. Yours ever, Jung Wheein.”

“Oh! That is unlucky,” sighs Mrs. Kim. “Still, you must go and make what you can of it.”

On that they can all agree. 

“May I have the carriage, father?” asks Seokjin. 

“The carriage? No, indeed!” huffs their mother. “You must go on horseback, for it looks like rain. Then you will have to stay the night.” 

Seokjin gapes at the woman’s gall. 

“Mother!” Taehyung chastises. 

“Well, why do you look at me like that? Would you go all the way to Netherfield and back without seeing Mr. Jung?” she justifies herself. 

Seokjin looks to his father for help, but his silence indicates he is not up for a fight today. Horseback it shall be then. 

It starts raining not ten minutes after he has set off, Taehyung notes regretfully. 

“Exactly as I planned,” his mother says gleefully when there is no sign of Seokjin coming back for the night. Another letter from Netherfield comes the next morning at breakfast, informing them that their guest was taken ill. 

“Well, my dear, if Seokjin should die of this fever, it will be a comfort to know that it was all in pursuit of Mr. Jung, and under your orders,” Mr. Kim comments with his usual dry humor. 

“Oh, nonsense!” his wife protests. “People do not die of little trifling colds. He will be very well taken care of. Dahyun, dear, do pass the bacon over.” 

Taehyung stops eating his breakfast, setting his cutlery back on the table. “Mamma, I think I must go to Netherfield.”

“Go to Netherfield? No, Taehyung, there is no call for that. Seokjin is very well where he is. And you know there is nothing for you in Netherfield. You had much better go to Meryton with your sisters and meet the officers.” 

“Yes, Tae, for there are more than enough to go around!” Dahyun chirps in unhelpfully. 

“I know that Seokjin would wish me to be with him,” he insists, choosing to let her mindless insult slide. 

Mrs. Kim sighs, well aware of how inseparable her eldest children are. 

“Then you must go,” Mr. Kim declares. “I will have the carriage readied,” he offers kindly. 

“Oh, no, father, I would much rather walk. It is barely three miles to Netherfield, and I’ll be back for dinner.”

“Walk three miles in all that dirt? You’ll not be fit to be seen,” says his mother. 

“Well, I shall be fit to see Seokjin, which is all I want,” retorts Taehyung.

“Yerim and I will set you as far as Meryton,” offers Dahyun. 

“Yes, let’s call on the officers early, before they are dressed,” her sister adds. “What shock they will get!” 

They both giggle while Taehyung sighs. Their improper behaviour never fails to amaze him, even after all these years spent in their company. He isn’t sure if it is the fruit of his parents’ indulgence or the fault of some natural inclination of the girls. 

“Our life holds few distinctions, Mrs. Kim,” starts his father, “but I think we may safely boast that here sit two of the silliest girls in the country.”

o o o

The walk to Netherfield, as Taehyung had hoped, is pleasant. He gets his boots muddy jumping over a fence, but nothing that would warrant throwing them away, which is to be counted as a victory in his book. The Jungs’ park is well maintained, so he is spared more dirt by the neat paths as he gets closer to the mansion. 

He has the misfortune, however, of running into Mr. Park, who’d apparently also decided to enjoy the fine weather and go out for a stroll. He looks surprised to see him there, but leads Taehyung to his brother’s side when Taehyung explains that is the reason for his visit. He doesn’t make any rude remarks about his walking over from Longbourn or his dishevelled appearance after the exertion, so Taehyung thinks the gods must be smiling upon him today. 

The same cannot be said of poor Seokjin, tucked away in his sickbed and looking very pale indeed. Nothing serious, Taehyung thinks as he gingerly sits beside him, but he definitely needs all the sleep he can get if he is to recover. 

“Thank you for coming, Taehyungie,” he says weakly. 

Taehyung takes his hand, smiling reassuringly. “Of course, I’ll look after you while you rest. How was the dinner with Miss Jung?” 

Seokjin looks up to the ceiling like it holds the answer to that question. 

“Pleasant enough,” he assures with a smile that doesn’t convince his brother at all. 

“Seokjin. What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing! Well, I think I know why she wished to talk to me, and it wasn’t for my delightful company,” he amends when he sees how serious Taehyung looks. 

“Her loss,” the younger jokes. 

“For sure,” Seokjin joins in. “It was an interrogation. She wanted to know about my relations, and I could tell she wasn’t pleased with my answers.” 

That’s all he says, and that’s enough for Taehyung to catch his meaning. It was a test, one that Seokjin failed, depriving him of her support should Mr. Jung be so inclined as to ever propose to him. Whether the reason for that is their mother’s brother being an attorney - a working man, god forbid - or their uncle and aunt not living in a part of London that Miss Jung would ever consider visiting, is irrelevant. 

o o o

“Well, we must allow him to be an excellent walker, I suppose,” Wheein observes magnanimously, sipping on her cup of tea. “But his appearance this morning – he really looked almost wild. What does he mean by scampering about the country because his brother has a cold? His boots! I swear there was more mud on his feet than leather.”

“I must confess, it quite escaped my notice,” says Hoseok, ever agreeable. “I thought he looked remarkably well.”

“You must have noticed his dishevelled state, I’m sure, Mr. Park,” she continues, giving the other man her full attention. Not that it was asked for, of course, Jimin thinks a little bitterly. 

“I did.”

“I’m inclined to think you wouldn’t wish your sister to make such an exhibition.”

“Certainly not,” Jimin agrees, barely suppressing a shudder at the thought. 

“It seems to me to show an abominable sort of conceited independence,” Wheein declares. 

“It shows an affection for his brother that is very pleasing,” Hoseok says with a smile. 

“I’m afraid, Mr. Park, that this escapade may have affected your admiration for his fine eyes,” she continues, tone confident. 

“Not at all,” he says, taking the cup of tea that is served to him. “They were brightened by the exercise.”

The room goes silent at his words, save for the clattering of china being taken away by the servants, and Jimin revels in it. Naturally it doesn’t last long, not when Wheein is around. 

“Kim Seokjin is a nice boy. It’s very sad he should have such an unfortunate family, such low connections. Their uncle, he told us, is in trade and lives in Cheapside. Perhaps we should call when we are next in town!” 

She laughs, as if anything she said was worthy of amusement. 

“They would be just as agreeable to me wherever their uncles lived,” Hoseok says obstinately, a frown marring his otherwise handsome features. 

“But with such connections they can have very little chance of marrying well, Hoseok. That is the material point,” Jimin emphasizes. 

Kim Taehyung is announced just then, as if summoned by his words. He looks like he took some time to put order into his appearance, his hair not looking quite so much like a bird’s nest anymore, and Jimin is surprised to feel somewhat disappointed by it. 

“Mr. Kim. How does your brother do? Is he any better?” enquires Hoseok, standing to greet him. 

“I am afraid that he is quite unwell, Mr. Jung.” 

“Let me send for the doctor, and you must stay until your sister is recovered.”

Kim Taehyung laughs nervously. “Oh, I would not wish to inconvenience you.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jimin sees Wheein roll her eyes, as if to say, ‘but wasn’t that exactly your intention in visiting us?’ Luckily, their guest doesn’t seem to notice, and if he does, he is too polite to remark on it. 

“I wouldn’t hear of anything else,” insists Hoseok. “I’ll send to Longbourn for your clothes directly.”

“You’re very kind, sir,” Mr. Kim says with a slight bow of his head. His smile, when he stands straight again, is earnest and squarely shaped. No young person in age of marrying would display an emotion so clearly on his face in London, Jimin is certain, and that is how it should be. And yet he can admit to being endeared, even if the smile makes Mr. Kim’s eyes crinkle shut and thus deprives him of their peculiar spark. 

o o o 

“May I inquire after your brother, Mr. Kim?” Mr. Jung says that evening as they are all, minus poor Seokjin, gathered in the drawing room after dinner. 

“I thank you. I believe he is a little better.” 

Seokjin did seem a little revived after the doctor’s visit, even telling Taehyung to stop being ridiculous when he asked him if his modest clothing would disgrace the elder. Taehyung would much rather be with Seokjin right now, but it would be considered impolite to escape his hosts’ company after sharing dinner with them. ‘I can only stand your Mr. Jung’s company,’ he’d lamented earlier, only to earn a scolding from Seokjin about his inappropriate use of the possessive paired with a smile that said quite the opposite. 

“I am very glad to hear it,” Mr. Park says, tone indicating nothing but the utmost indifference as he continues writing his letter. 

Taehyung goes back to reading his book, and the Jung siblings start a game of cards. 

“Will you join us, Mr. Kim?” Miss Jung offers politely. 

“I thank you, no.”

“You prefer reading to cards, do you? That is singular indeed,” she comments. She then turns her attention to the quieter gentleman. “And what are you doing so secretly, sir? 

“It is no secret,” Mr. Park declares. “I am writing to my sister.” 

He sounds mildly annoyed at the interruption, Taheyung notes with amusement. He knows Seokjin will ask him to recount the evening later, and he must strive to make the tale as entertaining as possible. 

“Oh, dear Sooyoung! Oh, how I long to see her. Is she much grown since the spring?”

Park Jimin hums his assent. “Though she shall not surpass my height, I think.” 

If Taehyung were more familiar with the company, he’d be tempted to say that the feat is hardly a difficult one. 

“And so accomplished!” Miss Jung gushes. “Her performance at the pianoforte is exquisite. Do you play, Mr. Kim?

“I do, but very ill indeed,” he replies. He was hoping to finish this book before bed, but that certainly won’t be possible if she continues to make enough conversation for the four of them. 

“But all young people are so accomplished,” Mr. Jung professes encouragingly. “They sing, they draw, they dance, speak French and German, and I know not what.” 

Taehyung fears his education will be found lacking in most of those categories, but he knows Mr. Jung means well with his remark. After all, the purpose of being so well accomplished is to marry well, and the Kim siblings have little hope of that. 

“There are not half a dozen who would satisfy my notion of accomplished,” Mr. Park tells him.

“Oh, certainly,” Miss Jung agrees, eager to please. “No one can be deemed accomplished who does not also possess a certain something in their air, in the manner of walking, in the tone of their voice, their address and expressions.”

Mr. Park nods. “And to all this should be added something more substantial in the improvement of the mind by extensive reading.” 

“I am no longer surprised at you knowing only six accomplished men or women, Mr. Park,” Taehyung remarks, eyes not leaving his book even as he feels the weight of three gazes trained on his figure. “I rather wonder at you knowing any.”

He looks up and takes delight in seeing that Mr. Park is fixing him, expression aggravated and quill rendered immobile. 

“You are very severe upon your fellows, Mr. Kim,” Miss Jung says, her frown speaking of pretense rather than the concern obviously intended. 

“I must speak as I find.”

“Perhaps you have not had the advantage, Mr. Kim, of moving in society enough. There are many very accomplished young people amongst our acquaintances.”

The insult stings a little, but Taehyung supposes it is true enough. For a while there is no talking, and Taehyung can concentrate on his reading, which is a pleasant enough occupation. The Jung siblings are still engaged in a card game, occasionally exclaiming their pleasure or discontent at the outcome and, on one occasion, claims of the other cheating. Taehyung wonders silently at their getting along with one another so well, given what he has judged of their characters over their few encounters. Then again, it is no wonder Mr. Jung is so accepting of her flaws when one takes into consideration his strange choice of friends. 

“Mr. Kim, let me persuade you to follow my example and take a turn about the room,” Miss Jung says with a well-practised smile once the game is finished. 

Taehyung can’t quite see the point of such an activity, but gets up nonetheless and lets her take his arm, offering a smile of his own. He fears his might look naïve in comparison to her predatory airs. 

“Will you not join us, Mr. Park?” she asks as they pass close to him.

Taehyung barely suppresses his eye roll - he really should spend less time with Dahyun and Yerim, their sassy attitudes undoubtedly having more of a negative effect on his behaviour than his own good manners have on theirs. 

“That would defeat the object.”

“What do you mean, sir? We insist on knowing.” Miss Jung tells Mr. Park, dragging an unwilling Taehyung into her seductive shenanigans. 

“Why, that your figures appear most advantaged when walking,” he answers, finally sparing the pair a glance, “and that I might best admire them from my present position.”

“Oh, shocking!” Miss Jung observes in obvious delight. “Abominable reply. How shall we punish him, Mr. Taehyung?”

“Nothing so easy,” Taehyung declares, deciding he might as well play along. “Tease him. Laugh at him.”

“Laugh at Mr. Park?” she repeats, this time sounding genuinely shocked. “Impossible. He is a man without fault.”

“Is he indeed?” Oh, this makes Taehyung’s task in revealing them considerably easier. However, Mr. Park amends the statement before he can rejoice too much. 

“That is not possible for anyone. But it has been my study to avoid those weaknesses, which lead to a strong exposure to ridicule.”

“Such as…” Taehyung pauses, pretending to have to think about his next words, as if Mr. Park hadn’t made his shortcomings quite so noticeable already, “vanity, perhaps, and pride?”

“Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed,” the gentleman concedes easily. “But pride… Where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will always be under good regulation. I have faults enough, Mr. Kim, but I hope they are not of understanding.” Taehyung raises an eyebrow, spurring him on. “My temper I cannot vouch for. It might be called resentful. My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever.”

Taehyung’s smirk fades. 

“That is a failing indeed, but I cannot laugh at it,” he says seriously. 

“I believe every disposition has a tendency to some particular evil,” Mr. Park goes on. 

“Your defect is a propensity to hate everyone,” states Taehyung, staring the other straight in the eye. 

“While yours is wilfully to misunderstand them,” he deflects.

“Shall we have some music, perhaps?” Miss Jung interrupts their somewhat heated exchange, not waiting for anyone’s answer before seating herself at the pianoforte and starting to play a popular sonata. Most dexterously, Taehyung will begrudgingly admit. 

o o o 

The next morning, Taehyung deems Seokjin healthy enough to be moved. He sends a note to Longbourn asking for the carriage to come pick them up, for he wouldn’t want to retard his brother’s recovery by having him regaining their house on horseback or worse, on foot. 

Of course, given his mother and sisters’ intrusive nature, he should have expected them to come over with said carriage. 

“Dear Lord, are we to host all the Kims in the country?” Taehyung overhears Wheein whispering to no one in particular when the butler announces them.

“You are very good to my son, Mr. Jung,” Taehyung’s mother says as the five Kims are seated with the three members of the other party before parting ways. She looks around the place, and it seems to pass her judgement. “Well, a fine room you have here! I think you will never want to leave Netherfield, now that you are here.”

“I believe I should be happy to live in the country forever,” Hoseok humors her. He’s such a kind man, Taehyung would wish him for himself if he and his brother weren’t so obviously taken with one another. Even now they exchange shy glances when they think no one notices. It’s very sweet, Taehyung thinks to himself. “Wouldn’t you, Jimin?”

“You would?” his friend says, disbelieving. “You don’t find the society somewhat confined and unvarying for your taste?”

“Confined and unvarying?” Mrs. Kim repeats, taking offence - not an entirely unjustified reaction, in Taehyung’s opinion. Still, he hopes she chooses her words with care before once again exposing their family to ridicule. “Indeed it is not, sir! The country is a vast deal pleasanter than town, whatever you may say about it.”

“Mamma, you mistake Mr. Park’s meaning,” Taehyung says, trying to defuse the tension. 

“Is it not?” she huffs, displeased. “I would have him know we dine with four-and-twenty families.”

Oh, lord. Miss Jung can’t hold back her snicker at that, and in all honesty Taehyung can hardly blame her, while the gentlemen remain silent. Yerim, bless her, saves them all from further embarrassment by changing the topic altogether. 

“Mr. Jung, did you not promise to give a ball at Netherfield as soon as you were settled here? It will be a great scandal if you don’t keep your word,” she teases.

Oh, the little devil. Taehyung remembers no such promise being made. 

“I am perfectly ready to keep my engagement,” Mr. Jung assures them, smiling brightly. “And when your brother is recovered, you shall name the day of the ball, if you please.”

Dahyun gasps at that. It doesn’t take much to excite them, but it’s a kind attention. 

“Oh! There now, Yerim, that’s a fair promise for you,” their mother declares. “That’s generosity for you. That’s what I call gentlemanly behaviour.” she adds, making her meaning clearer than necessary by looking pointedly at Mr. Park, who seems suddenly enthralled by the sight outside the window. 

They finally take their leave, and Taehyung has rarely been so relieved. He says so to Seokjin, once they are all huddled in the carriage, and taking care to exempt Mr. Jung from his accusations. 

“I really like him, Taehyung-ah,” Seokjin whispers back. Taehyung takes his hand and feels his brother’s happiness warm his own heart.


	2. Longbourn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Hope you enjoy reading this :)

The days turn cold. Taehyung still goes out for walks everyday, but his sisters seldom accompany him anymore, preferring to sew new ornaments on their bonnets by the fireplace despite their mother’s company. Sometimes Seokjin follows him, but Taehyung rarely asks him, for he knows that it is indulgence rather than a wish to be exposed to the grand air that motivates him to accept. 

Today his walk isn’t so lonely, given that Taehyung has found a new companion in the form of a large dog, and the two of them played quite happily for a couple of hours in the autumn leaves. 

“I hope, my dear, you have ordered a good dinner today,” their father announces at luncheon later that day, “because I have reason to expect an addition to our family party.”

Mrs. Kim opens her eyes comically wide, and then squeals in delight when realisation hits her. 

“Seokjin! You should have told me,” she scolds happily, batting her hand at her eldest. “I didn’t know we were expecting guests from Netherfield!”

Taehyung seeks his eyes from across the table, interrogation clear in his gaze, and Seokjin shakes his head to let him know that their mother is mistaken. 

“I’m afraid you have misunderstood me, Mrs. Kim. It is a person I never saw in the whole course of my life,” he clarifies. “About a fortnight ago, I received a letter regarding a rather delicate matter. It was from my cousin, Mr. Pent, who when I am dead may turn you all out of this house as soon as he pleases.”

His words are followed by a unanimous groan around the table. 

“Oh, my dear, pray, don't mention that odious man. I think it the hardest thing in the world that your estate should be entailed away from your own poor children.” 

“Indeed, my dear, nothing can clear Mr. Pent of the iniquitous crime of inheriting Longbourn, but if you will listen to his letter, you may be softened by his manner of expressing himself.”

Mr. Kim takes out a piece of paper from his pocket and his glasses from another, and proceeds to read the letter. 

"’My dear sir’, he writes, ‘the disagreements subsisting between yourself and my late honoured father always gave me much uneasiness. I have frequently wished to heal the breach and have now made up my mind on the subject. As a clergyman, moreover, I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families within the reach of my influence, a thought my patroness, the Right Honourable Lady Lee Sunmi, expressed approval for. I am, sir, keenly conscious of being the means of injuring your amiable sons and daughters, and assure you of my readiness to make them every possible amends’, et cetera, et cetera. He writes we are to expect him by four in the afternoon.”

Sure enough, a carriage rolls into their estate a few minutes before the clock strikes four. 

“Can he be a sensible man, sir?” Taehyung asks his father as they are all gathered on the porch to witness the newcomer’s arrival. 

“Oh, I think not, my dear,” he replies with an amused smile. “Indeed, I have great hopes of finding him quite the reverse.”

o o o

His meaning becomes quite clear at dinner. Cousin Pent Jinyoung is, if he were to be described in one word, ridiculous - pompous would do nicely in addition if one were to allow another. He grimaces regularly, but Taehyung expects he means to smile instead. 

“You seem, er, very fortunate in your patroness, sir,” Mr. Kim comments conversationally, since he mentioned her name in his letter. 

Mr. Pent halts the ascent of his spoon from his bowl to his mouth and inhales sharply, as if hit by some sort of sudden divine inspiration. “Lady Lee Sunmi. Indeed, I am, sir. I have been treated with such affability, such condescension, as I would never have dared to hope for. I have been invited twice to dine at Rosings Park.”

There are few things that Taehyungs loathes more than condescension, but clearly that is not a trait he shares with their guest. Taehyung sees Dahyun close to laughter at the clergyman’s enthused manner and promptly gives her a warning kick under the table. Yerim lets out a small sound of protest, and Taehyung is struck with the thought that he’s done a great service to humanity so far by having never been hunting before, for who knows what disasters his bad aim would have stirred. 

“Does she live near you, sir?” asks Mrs. Kim. 

“The garden, in which stands my humble abode, is separated only by a lane from Rosings Park.”

“Only a lane, eh? Well, fancy that,” says Mr. Kim. Mr. Pent nods very seriously, blissfully unaware of the fact that he is being made fun of. 

“I think you said she was a widow, sir? Has she any family?” Seokjin enquires kindly. 

“Oh, she has one daughter, the heiress of Rosings, and of very extensive property.”

“And has she been presented at court?” asks their mother, and her question earns a dramatic sigh from the cousin. 

“She is, unfortunately, of a sickly constitution, which unhappily prevents her being in town. As I told Lady Sunmi myself one day, she has deprived the British court of its brightest ornament,” he recounts, pride clear in his demeanour. He turns to address Mr. Kim specifically, as if in confidence. “You may imagine, sir, how happy I am, on every occasion, to offer those little delicate compliments, which are always acceptable to ladies.”

Taehyung brings his napkin to his lips, his smirk no longer containable. Thankfully their father stays very calm as he answers. 

“It is fortunate for you, Mr. Pent, that you possess such an extraordinary talent for flattering with delicacy. May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are they the result of previous study?”

It is really unfair of him to pour oil on the flame this way, not when they are all expected to stay polite. Even Seokjin can barely hold back his amusement, and he is the only Kim sibling to possess the great gift of reservedness. 

“They arise chiefly from what is passing at the time, sir. I do, sometimes, amuse myself by writing down and arranging such little compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions. But I try to give them as unstudied an air as possible,” the clergyman reveals, a pleased flush on his cheeks. 

“Excellent,” declares Mr. Kim as he digs into his meal. They all follow his example, and Taehyung wonders how they will put up with his presence for an entire week. Especially if the man keeps grimacing at Seokjin that way. 

o o o

Taehyung is sitting in his room, window wide open to let in the fresh air, even though he knows he’ll feel guilty later for making the maids’ task of keeping the house warm harder. 

“I must confess myself quite overwhelmed with the charms of your children, Mrs. Kim,” a sickly-sweet voice he has grown accustomed to over the past few days comes from the garden below. “Perhaps especially the eldest Mr. Kim?”

Taehyung shudders, protective feelings for his brother rising to the surface. Not that Mr. Pent’s words come as much of a surprise, since the purpose of his visit, though never put so explicitly, has always been quite plain. Taehyung just likes to forget how easily the situation could be compared to a cattle market. 

“Ah, yes, Seokjin is admired wherever he goes,” his mother answers, pleased. “But I think I should tell you, Mr. Pent, I think it very likely he will be very soon engaged.” Taehyung hopes they aren’t getting ahead of themselves, but so does he. “As for my younger children, now, if any of them…in their case I know of no prior attachment at all.”

Mr. Pent’s choice is made obvious when he insists on accompanying the younger girls to Meryton soon after, and asks ‘cousin Taehyung for the great honour of walking with him into town.’ Seokjin winces compassionately as Taehyung has no choice but to take the other man’s arm. 

Mr. Pent pants as they walk uphill, which Taehyung felt sorry about until he realised it spared him unwanted conversation. No such luck after they cross the river, though. 

“You visit the Jeons in Meryton frequently, I understand, cousin?”

“Yes, we are very fond of their company, but I'm afraid you'll find Lady Jeon’s gatherings poor affairs after the splendours of Rosings Park,” Taehyung says to humor his companion, referring to the invitation they have received for that evening. 

“Oh, no, I think not. I believe I possess the happy knack, much to be desired in a clergyman, of adapting myself to every kind of society whether high or low.”

“That is fortunate,” Taehyung replies simply, not entirely trusting himself to say anymore. Does an insult become less offensive if its perpetrator is oblivious to his words’ effect? 

“Yes, indeed, and though it is a gift of nature, constant study has enabled me, I flatter myself, to make a kind of art of it.”

Taehyung looks away, and Dahyun provides the perfect distraction as she points out two officers across the street from them. Yerim calls out to the one she knows, earning a disapproving look from her eldest brother. The man, whose name is Choi Soobin if Taehyung’s memory serves, speaks first. 

“Allow me to introduce you to my good friend, officer Kang Seulgi.” The woman accompanying him takes off her military hat and bows again. Taehyung can’t help but notice how dashing and pleasant her figure is. “Mr. Kim, Mr. Kim Taehyung, Miss Kim Dahyun and Miss Kim Yerim,” officer Choi introduces them, and they bow or curtsy in turn. 

“This is our cousin, Mr. Pent,” Seokjin adds, never forgetting his manners. 

“Shall you come with us to Lady Jeon’s this evening, officer Kang?” Yerim enquires eagerly. Taehyung guesses he isn’t the only one who finds her something attractive. 

“Oh, yes! Soobin is coming, you know,” Dahyun adds, giving her voice the hint of a whine that she knows always gets her her way. 

“Well, if Lady Jeon extended the invitation to include me… I should be delighted,” she answers, smiling kindly. 

Mr. Jung and Mr. Park ride by just then, and the former dismounts his horse to greet them, making the younger girls giggle at the attention and elbow their elder brother with about as little subtlety as anyone who knows them would expect. 

Mr. Park looks about to follow his friend’s example, but re-seats himself when officer Kang glances back at him. Taehyung shouldn’t be much surprised, after having witnessed the man’s aversion to strangers more times than he wishes to count. Mr. Park even rides a little further away from them when officer Kang lifts her hat in his direction. If any greeting from Park Jimin could be qualified as cold, then this one is positively glacial, Taehyung thinks. To her credit, the woman doesn’t seem too taken aback by it. 

“How very fortunate!” Mr. Jung exclaims happily when he reaches them. “Do you know we were just on our way to Longbourn to ask after your health?”

“You are very kind sir,” Seokjin says, offering his signature sweet smile. “I am quite recovered, as you see.”

“Yes, I am very glad to know it.”

The gentlemen ride away, after Mr. Jung promises to call on them very soon, and the officers go on their way. The separation isn’t a long one, though, since they meet again that evening at the Jeon mansion. 

The evening has followed a pleasant course so far, save for Lady Jeon taking offence at Mr. Pent’s remark that her charming apartment reminded him greatly of a ‘small summer breakfast room at Rosings’. Luckily Seokjin had been there to explain to their host that it was, in fact, intended as a great compliment indeed. Taehyung had laughed a lot when Seokjin came to him to recount the incident. 

Lady Jeon, bless her, has whisked Mr. Pent over to the card tables, leaving Taehyung to enjoy his momentary freedom from the man’s overbearing presence. He is not companionless for long, though, as officer Kang comes to sit next to him. 

“I must confess,” she says with a low chuckle, “I thought I should never escape your younger sisters.” 

Taehyung laughs, all too familiar with that particular feeling. 

“They can be very determined, Yerim especially.”

“But they're pleasant girls,” the officer adds, and Taehyung is glad to see someone look past their immature ways and recognise their genuine desire to bring joy wherever they go and collect recognition in return. “I don't see Mr. Jung and his friends here this evening,” she rightly observes. 

Taehyung smiles to himself. “I think some of Mr. Jung’s friends would consider it beneath their dignity.”

This seems to spark the woman’s interest. “Have you known Mr. Park long? 

Taehyung shakes his head. “About a month.”

“I have known him all my life. We played together as children,” officer Kang reveals cryptically as she picks at invisible lint on her red uniform. Taehyung looks at her, not trying to hide his confusion in the least, thinking back to their interaction earlier in the day, or rather lack thereof. “Do you… Are you much acquainted with Mr. Park?” she enquires carefully. 

“As much as I ever wish to be,” Taehyung assures, hoping to coax her into explaining herself further. “I've spent two days in the same house with him, and I find him very disagreeable.”

“I fear there are few who would share that opinion… except myself.” Taehyung doubts Mr. Park is much liked in Hertfordshire, but lets her continue uninterrupted. “Does he intend to stay long at Netherfield?”

“I do not know, but I hope his being in the neighbourhood will not affect your plans to stay,” Taehyung says with a small smile he hopes looks forthcoming. He thinks he could grow to like her, perhaps. 

She doesn’t seem to mind his forwardness at all. 

“Thank you,” she smiles back. “But it is not for me to be driven away by Mr. Park. If he wishes to avoid seeing me, he must go, for he is the one who has done me great wrong. His father, Mr. Kim, the late Mr. Park, was my godfather, and one of the best men that ever breathed. My father was his steward, and when he died, old Mr. Park loved me, I believe, as though I were his own daughter. He intended me for the church, and it was my dearest wish to enter into that profession. But after he died… and the living he had promised me fell vacant, the son refused, point blank, to honour his father's promises. And so, you see, I have to make my own way in the world.” 

This time, Taehyung is certain he wouldn’t be able to hide his shock even if he tried. 

“This is quite outrageous. I had not thought Mr. Park as bad as this! You are more temperate than I should be in your situation,” Taehyung notes earnestly, making his audience smile despite her sad tale. 

“I have not the resentful temper that some men have. And my situation, you know, is not so bad. At present, I have every cause for cheer. I can't bear to be idle, and my new profession gives me active employment. It even brings the finest company,” officer Kang adds, a pretty twinkle in her bright eyes. 

Taehyung hopes his blush isn’t too visible. 

o o o

Taehyung’s conversation with officer Kang is told in great detail to his one and only confidante, his beloved brother, as they are once again lying together on the elder’s bed. Seokjin is, as per usual, more forgiving than Taehyung would ever be. Taehyung firmly believes him to be too good for this world of grime and deceit. 

“I cannot believe it, Taehyungie. Mr. Park would have far too high a respect for his father's wishes to behave in such an un-Christian way. And, Taehyung-ah, consider, how could his most intimate friends be so deceived in him?”

That is a mystery indeed, but not one that is likely to ever change Taehyung’s opinion on the matter. Besides, if Jung Hoseok is anything like Seokjin - as he has every reason to believe - then it isn’t much surprising that he too would let himself be tricked all too easily by that snake of a man. “I could more easily imagine Mr. Jung being imposed upon, than to think that officer Kang could invent such a history.” 

Seokjin tilts his head in that effortlessly charming manner of his, considering. Then his gaze lights up and he sends his younger brother a devilish smile, one that Taehyung knows means trouble. 

“I believe you like officer Kang, Taehyungie.” 

Taehyung sighs, for show more than out of exasperation, and decides that he might as well speak his heart since he is incapable of hiding anything from Seokjin. 

“I confess I do like her,” he admits in a shy whisper. Seokjin beams at him encouragingly. “I do not see how anyone could not like her. She feels deeply, I believe, and yet has a natural merriment and energy, despite all this. Yes, Seokjin-ah, I confess I like her very much.”

“But, after so short an acquaintance, do you think we should believe in her so implicitly? 

“How could she be doubted?” Taehyung says, rising to a sitting position in an attempt to give his words more emphasis. “She gave me all the circumstances, Seokjin, names, facts, and everything without ceremony. If it isn't so, let Mr. Park contradict it,” he challenges. 

“It is difficult, indeed. It is distressing. One does not know what to think.”

Taehyung laughs at Seokjin’s distressed look, typical for him when the world does not live up to his utopical expectations of goodness. “I beg your pardon, one knows exactly what to think.”

o o o

Later that week, Taehyung finds himself once again in officer Kang’s agreeable company as they stroll together about the gardens of Mr. Kim’s modest estate. A few members of the Meryton regiment had elected to pay them a visit, much to Dahyun and Yerim’s delight - as well as their mother, who made them all laugh with tales of her fondness for red uniforms in her own youth. They are all to meet again at the long-awaited Netherfiel ball that very evening, but Taehyung is glad to see them anyway. Well, one officer in particular, if he is to be honest. 

“Mr. Pent’s conversation is very,” officer Kang pauses, and Taehyung watches in amusement as she grasps for a word. How, indeed, to describe in a complimentary light his detailed description of the eight hundred pound chimneypiece in the second drawing room at Rosings, which they both had to endure until Seokjin, bless his soul, called on the clergyman’s expertise to explain an obscure passage of the bible. “Very wholesome,” is what she settles on. 

“And there is plenty to be had of it, I assure you,” Taehyung says, regret tinged in his voice. “Have you made Mr. Jung’s acquaintance yet?”

“No, but I am already disposed to approve of him, since he has invited the regiment to the Netherfield ball, which caused us all great joy. I have decided not to attend, as I’m sure you’ll understand, though I shall be sorry not to see you.” Oh, the injustice of it, Taehyung laments silently. “He must be a very amiable gentleman, this Mr. Jung.”

“Oh, yes. He is eager to approve of everyone he meets, but he is a sensible man with taste and judgement. I wonder very much how Mr. Park could impose upon him, but he cannot know what Mr. Park is,” as we do, Taehyung doesn’t add. 

“Probably not. Mr. Park can please what he chooses, if he thinks it's worth his while. Among his equals in wealth and consequence, he can be liberal-minded, honourable… even agreeable.” 

That, Taehyung simply cannot believe. “You can speak of him so tolerantly.”

Officer Kang smiles at Taehyung indulgently. “He's not wholly bad.”

Taehyung thinks he’s rarely met a person with a kinder heart. “Tell me, what sort of girl is Miss Park?” he says, wishing to take advantage of his companion’s familiarity with the man to better understand his deceitful ways. 

“Well, I wish I could call her amiable. As a child, she was affectionate and pleasing, and extremely fond of me. And I have devoted hours to her amusement, but she has grown too much like her brother, very proud. I never see her now,” she sighs regretfully, and Taehyung wonders at Park Jimin having a personality flawed enough to corrupt even his own sister’s goodness of heart. “She is but sixteen years old. Your sister Yerim’s age,” she adds as they both watch the Kim sisters entertaining and being entertained by a couple of officers a little closer to the house. 

“Yerim is fifteen,” Taehyung corrects.

“I was amused by your cousin's reference to Lady Lee Sunmi,” officer Kang goes on, stealing Taehyung’s attention away from his younger siblings’ games. “She is Mr. Park’s aunt, you know, and her daughter, Siyeon, who will inherit a very large fortune, is destined to be Mr. Park’s bride.”

“Really?” Taehyung exclaims. That is amusing indeed. “Poor Miss Jung”. 

Officer Kang looks a bit surprised by her companion’s candid implications, but soon laughs along with him. Taehyung could get used to this.

o o o

“You look nice, Taehyungie,” says his mother as a maid perfects the fall of his dark brown curls over his forehead. She always insists on inspecting their preparations on grand occasions, such as a ball at Netherfield. Taehyung thanks her, appreciating the compliment. Of course, she had to ruin it by opening her mouth again. “You'll never be as handsome as your brother, of course,” she adds, resigned. 

“Of course,” Taehyung agrees dryly, resisting the urge to roll his eyes since she would see it reflected in the mirror. 

Dahyun bursts into the room, wearing only her undergarments. Taehyung hopes she doesn’t run into Mr. Pent in the corridors. 

“Taehyungie! Yerim says my gown is unbecoming,” she pouts, holding tightly onto the piece of clothing. 

“Well, I think it is lovely. The shade makes the colour of your eyes stand out more,” he answers diplomatically. She sends a grateful smile in his direction and leaves just as suddenly as she came, no doubt to repeat his words to Yerim. 

“I hope you will pay Mr. Pent every courtesy tonight, because he has been very attentive to you,” warns Mrs. Kim. 

Taehyung doubts he has much of a choice in the matter, since Mr. Pent made him promise to save the first two dances for him. Seokjin tried to help, once again, by pointing out how dancing could be considered an activity beneath the dignity of a clergyman such as himself, but to no avail. 

The ball, as expected, is splendid. Mr. Jung greets them warmly, despite the dozens of other guests in attendance, and so does his sister - though her welcome is a little cooler, Taehyung notes. Despite the fine orchestra, food and wine, and lack of sighting Mr. Park so far, Taehyung’s entertainment is spoiled by Mr. Pent stepping on his feet thrice and then apologising all throughout the first dances. 

“He has the coordination of a baby duckling, but lacks their endearing quality. I swear, Jeongguk, his company is becoming increasingly difficult to endure,” he confesses to his young friend, after claiming to need a break to catch his breath in order to escape an unwanted invitation to a third dance. 

Jeongguk chuckles at Taehyung’s dejected expression. “Now, now,” he consoles, “he’ll be gone soon enough. Besides, he doesn’t seem so bad.” 

“Not as bad as some,” Taehyung concedes when he sees a familiar elegant, though short, figure besides Miss Jung. “That reminds me, Jeongguk, I must tell you what I learned about Mr. Park.” 

Taehyung isn’t usually one to gossip, but he feels he has a duty to reveal Mr. Park’s abominable behaviour to at least his most trusted friends. 

“It's extraordinary. And, are you sure it's true?” Jeongguk asks once Taehyung has said his piece. 

“Jeongguk, how could it be otherwise? Every circumstance confirms it, and Mr. Park has boasted to me himself of his resentful, implacable -” 

“Taehyungie!” his young companion says in a warning tone, drawing his attention to the man approaching them. They incline their heads respectfully. 

“If you're not otherwise engaged, would you do me the honour of dancing the next with me, Mr. Kim?” enquires Mr. Park, face as expressionless as always. 

Taehyung shoots Jeongguk a look of panic and wracks his brain to find a suitable excuse, only to find it despairingly empty. 

“Why, I… thank you, yes,” he finally says, taking the arm Mr. Park offers and thinking back at his promise to never dance with the hateful man. Oh, well. 

The couple take their place at the end of the row when the music stops, bow to one another when it resumes. They perform the familiar steps without exchanging a word, occasionally holding hands - Taehyung partner’s are remarkably small, and he can’t believe he’d failed to notice it before. 

Mr. Park looks as stern as ever, and so Taehyung can’t resist taunting him. “I believe we must have some conversation, Mr. Park,” he declares as they turn clockwise. “A very little will suffice. You should say something about the dance, perhaps,” he suggests before they are separated to loop around the next couple. “I might remark on the number of couples,” he continues. 

“Do you talk by rule, then, when you are dancing?” Mr. Park says, and Taehyung supposes that will also do. 

“Yes, sometimes it is best,” he replies when they are close enough to hear one another. “Then we may enjoy the advantage of saying as little as possible, since we are each of an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we are expected to say something that will amaze the whole room.”

“This is no very striking resemblance of your own character, I'm sure,” affirms Mr. Park. “Er, do you often walk into Meryton?”

“Yes, quite often,” Taehyung informs him. In retrospect, maybe it would have been wiser not to go on, but Seokjin isn’t there to stop him. “When you met us, the other day, we had just been forming a new acquaintance.”

“Miss Kang has the happy manners that enable her to make friends,” Mr. Park scowls, indicating he knows exactly who Taehyung was referring to. “Whether she is equally capable of keeping them is less certain.”

“She has been unlucky as to lose your friendship in a way she is likely to suffer from all her life,” is all Taehyung can say to that. “I remember hearing you once say that you hardly ever forgave - that your resentment, once created, was implacable. You are very careful, are you not, in allowing your resentment to be created?”

“I am,” his partner answers simply. 

“And never allow yourself to be blinded by prejudice?” 

“I hope not. May I ask to which these questions tend?”

They hold hands once again, turning counter-clockwise. Taehyung refuses to back off, even if Mr. Park’s steely gaze would have him squirming in any other circumstance. “Merely to the illustration of your character. I am trying to make it out.”

“And what is your success?”

“Oh, I do not get on at all,” Taehyung admits dismissively. “I hear such different accounts of you as to puzzle me exceedingly.”

They contourn another couple and join again to form neat lines. “I wish, Mr. Kim, that you would not attempt to sketch my character at the present moment.” Mr. Park says when they reunite. “I fear the performance would reflect no credit on either of us.” 

That sounds like an admission of his shortcomings, if Taehyung has ever heard one. “But if I don't take your likeness now, I may never have another opportunity,” he replies with mock-politeness. 

Mr. Park is silent for a while, and then finally says, “I would by no means suspend any pleasure of yours,” after their last customary bow. 

The music stops and Taehyung wouldn’t be able to retain the sigh of relief that escapes him even if he tried to, but they are kept in each other’s company for a short while longer as they are approached by Sir Jeon. 

“Allow me to congratulate you, sir,” he tells Mr. Park. “Such superior dancing is rarely to be seen. I'm sure you know your fair partner is well worthy of you,” Taehyung tilts his head in thanks for the acknowledgement. “I hope to see this pleasure often repeated. Especially when a certain desirable event takes place,” he adds unsubtly, eyeing Seokjin and his admirer, deep in conversation under Miss Jung’s disapproving gaze. 

Mr. Park notices the couple too, bows again and promptly takes his leave. Taehyung is hardly phased by his abrupt behaviour, and must concede that Sir Jeon’s was hardly better in this particular occasion. Of course they all hope for a happy announcement, but nothing has been confirmed yet. 

Sadly, it becomes clear that Sir Jeon isn’t the only one to have forgotten that small formality when Taehyung overhears - as does half the party, he daresay - his mother boasting not one but two imminent engagements among her offspring. 

“Mr. Pent is such a sensible, respectable young man, and he's taken quite a fancy to Taehyung…” she stage-whispers across the dining table to anyone willing to listen, “and I don't think he could find a better person to marry. He favoured Seokjin at first, of course, but Mr. Jung was there before him.”

Said Mr. Jung, from across the hall, looks understandably distraught, Taehyung notices as Seokjin clutches his hand for dear life, blood drained from his face by the embarrassment. Besides his friend, Mr. Park seems displeased, and Taehyung can hardly blame him. 

But Mrs. Kim isn’t done yet. “Now that will be a great marriage. And, of course, that will throw the girls into the path of other rich men and women.” She has the gall to nod satisfactorily at that. 

As if on cue, Yerim runs across the room, giggling and holding an officer’s sheathed saber above her head, as she does with Dahyun’s ribbons when she steals them. The officer chases after her, sheepish and painfully aware of how inappropriate her behaviour is for a young lady of her rank, albeit of modest fortune. Taehyung barely manages to stop his wine from spilling all over his brand new breeches when Yerim knocks into him without even an apology. 

Seokjin and he share a horrified look, and Taehyung closes his eyes as if that were sufficient to rid his mind of the feeling of humiliation burning him right down to his very soul. 

Taehyung excuses himself to his brother, deciding that if he is to make it through this evening in one piece, then it is imperative he get more punch in his veins. With his luck, he really should have expected Miss Jung to be struck with the same thought at the same moment. 

“So, Mr. Kim, I hear you're quite delighted with Kang Seulgi,” she tells him as they wait to be served their beverages. “No doubt she forgot to tell you that she is merely the daughter of old Kang, the late Mr. Park’s steward.” She pauses to chuckle haughtily, making Taehyung’s blood boil, and continues with renewed condescension. “But Taehyung, as a friend, let me recommend you not to give credit to all her assertions. Miss Kang treated Mr. Park in an infamous manner.”

“Has she? How?” Taehyung interrogates, pretending to be surprised and curious to know what kind of lies Mr. Park must have spun to earn the respect of his friends. 

“I don't remember the particulars, but I do know that Mr. Park was not in the least to blame. I pity you, Taehyung, for the discovery of your favourite's guilt. But, really, considering her descent, one could not expect much better.”

“Her guilt and her descent appear, by your account, to be the same. I've heard you accuse her of being nothing worse than being the daughter of Mr. Park’s steward, and she informed me of that herself,” Taehyung replies decisively, having had enough. 

“Beg your pardon. Excuse my interference. It was kindly meant.” Taehyung doubts that statement very much, and doesn’t keep her when she walks away. 

The evening finally comes to an end, fortunately, but not before yet another member of Taehyung and Seokjin’s extensive family exposes them all to ridicule. Indeed, Mr. Pent learns of the tie that links Mr. Park to his patroness, the Lady Lee Sunmi, and takes it upon himself to go up to the gentleman to inform him of her good health, completely disregarding the fact that they have yet to be presented to one another. 

To his credit, Mr. Park acknowledges him, though their conversation is as curt as expected on his part. He even hints to the nature of the man’s social faux-pas by enquiring after his name, and Taehyung flinches when the answer is an oblivious ‘Pent Jinyoung, Mr. Park.’

o o o

Mr. Pent is scheduled to leave Longbourn the next day, and Taehyung has rarely been more grateful for anything in his life. The Kim household are enjoying a quiet morning, for once: Seokjin is caring for the gardens, handing over the flowers he cuts for Taehyung and Dahyun to arrange in vases in the dining room. As for Yerim, well, who knows what she is up to. 

Dahyun is in the middle of talking Taehyung’s ear off by recalling the ball he would much rather forget when their mother calls for her. A dreadful suspicion takes hold of Taehyung, leaving him unable to enjoy his respite. 

“Come, Dahyun, I want you upstairs. Mr. Pent has something to say to Taehyung.”

Taehyung smiles wide, hiding his discomfort. 

“Dear Mamma, don't go,” he pleads. “Mr. Pent can have nothing to say that anyone could not hear.”

His mother gives him a stern look. “Taehyung, I insist that you stay where you are and hear Mr. Pent. Come, Dahyun.”

His sister shoots him an apologetic look, and soon there is no one left in the room but Taehyung and Mr. Pent. 

“Believe me, my dear Mr. Kim,” starts the clergyman, “your modesty adds to your other perfections. But you can hardly doubt the object of my discourse for, almost as soon as I entered the house, I singled you out as the companion of my future life.” His pompous tone would make Taehyung want to laugh any other day, but he is currently frozen with horror. “But before I am run away by my feelings on this subject, perhaps it would be advisable for me to state my reasons for marrying.”

“Mr. Pent…” Taehyung tries, wanting to spare the man the embarrassment of making a proposition that his audience cannot possibly accept. Mr. Pent doesn’t seem to care for it, though, as he holds out a hand to silence him. 

“My reasons for marrying are - first, that I think it a right thing for every clergyman to set the example of matrimony in his parish. Secondly, that I am convinced it will add very greatly to my happiness. And thirdly, which perhaps I should have mentioned first, that it is the particular recommendation of my noble patroness, Lady Lee Sunmi.” There he pauses for dramatic effect, and Taehyung braces himself for the rest. “‘Mr. Pent,’ she said, ‘you must marry. Choose properly,’ she said, ‘a gentle man or woman, let them be an active, useful sort of person, not brought up too high.’”

“Mr. Pent, please…” 

“My dear cousin, being as I am to inherit all this estate after the death of your father, I could not satisfy myself without resolving to choose a partner from among his children. And now, nothing remains but to assure you in the most animated language, of the violence of my affections.”

Taehyung holds a hand to his mouth when the man drops to one knee, but not for the reason the clergyman seems to think. 

“To fortune I am perfectly indifferent,” he goes on. “Rest assured, I shall never reproach on that score when we are married.” 

Taehyung wonders how it is possible to be insulted even as one is being proposed to. “You are too hasty, sir. You forget that I have made no answer, and let me do so now. I thank you for your compliments,” he forces himself to say, “but it is impossible for me to accept them. 

Mr. Pent is surprised by his words, but doesn’t appear to believe him. 

“I am by no means discouraged,” he affirms, chuckling. “I understand that it is usual for young people to reject the addresses of the man they secretly mean to accept when he first applies for their favour. And, therefore, I shall hope, my dear cousin, to lead you to the altar before long.”

Taehyung loses his temper. Or perhaps he finds it. 

“Upon my word, your hope is an extraordinary one in view of my declaration! I was perfectly serious in my refusal. You could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last person in the world who could make you so.”

Mr. Pent seems taken aback at that, Taehyung is pleased to note. 

“My dear Mr. Taehyung, my situation in life, my connection with the noble family of Lee are circumstances highly in my favour. You should consider that it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made to you.” 

At that, Taehyung resolves to leave the room, whether Mr. Pent considers there to be unfinished business between them or not. He hears Mr. Pent call out after him, much to his renewed displeasure. 

“And I am persuaded that when sanctioned by your excellent parents, my proposal will not fail to be accepted!” 

Indeed, Taehyung is summoned to his father’s study not long after, no doubt at his mother’s urging. He is resolute in his decision, and hopes his father will understand. 

“I understand Mr. Pent has made you an offer of marriage, and that you refused it. Is it true?” he asks with little preambule. 

Taehyung nods and promptly absorbs himself in the contemplation of his shoes. He knows his father has a soft spot for him, but at times it is best not to push one’s luck. 

“I see,” Mr. Kim says gravely, earning the approval of his wife, lingering by the door. “Well, here we come to the point. Your mother insists on your accepting it. Is it not so, Mrs. Kim?”

“Yes, or I will never see him again,” she threatens. 

Taehyung’s father nods along to her words. “Well, an unhappy alternative is before you, Taehyung. From this day, you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Pent, and I will never see you again… if you do.”

Taehyung smiles brightly at his father, the boxy smile he knows endears the older man even though his mother always scolds him for appearing ‘undignified’. He knew he could count on him for support. 

Mrs. Kim is upset by the dual treason and wails all throughout dinner, but they are all well aware that she’ll get over it soon enough. Mr. Pent is gone, having apparently taken great offence at Taehyung’s rejection. He is dining at Jeon lodge, where Jeongguk, bless his soul, had offered for him to stay until his departure the following morning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Next episode next week. Please consider leaving a comment with some feedback, I am really curious to know what you think of this!


	3. Rosings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to another episode of the vmin Pride and Prejudice AU! Hope you enjoy it :)
> 
> Btw, I actually pictured our dear cousin Pent Jinyoung as JYP himself, but thought it would be confusing if he too was called Mr. Park, so he became Mr. (JY)Pent(ertainment)

The days following Taehyung’s rejected marriage proposal bring about an unsuspected turn of events, for it seems Mr. Pent will be returning to his parish married, after all - and to a great friend of Taehyung no less. 

“But why should you be surprised, Taehyung-ah?” Jeongguk tells him over tea the next day, as Taehyung had come to enquire about the shocking news. “Just because he was not so happy as to succeed in obtaining your good opinion does not mean he could not be accepted by another.” 

“Jeongguk, I didn't mean…” Taehyung starts, wishing nothing less than to inadvertently offend his friend. “I was surprised. But, Jeongguk, if Mr. Pent has been so fortunate as to secure your affections, I'm delighted for you both.”

Jeongguk looks down at his cup of tea. “I see what you're feeling. I'm not romantic, you know,” he explains patiently. “I never was. I ask only for a comfortable home, and considering Mr. Pent’s character and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the married state.”

Taehyung pats his hand in acquiescence, reassuring him of his understanding. “And when do you go into Kent?” he asks, steering the conversation to shallower waters. 

“We shall spend the wedding night at Jeon Lodge, and then travel to Hunsford on Friday.” Jeongguk takes his hand, obviously hit with a sudden thought. “You will write to me Taehyungie? I believe I'm not likely to leave Kent for some time. I shall depend on hearing from you very often.”

“And that you certainly shall,” Taehyung assures him. 

“My father is to come to me in March. Taehyungie, will you promise to accompany him? Indeed, you will be just as welcome.” 

“Well, then how could I refuse?” the elder agrees easily. Not that he will have missed Mr. Pent’s company much, he’s sure, but visiting his friend is well worth the sacrifice. “But, I'll only come if you guarantee me a glimpse of the famous chimneypiece at Rosings Park.”

Jeongguk laughs. “That, I think you could scarcely avoid, even if you wished to.”

Mr. Pent walks towards them then, wearing a beatific smile on his face. “Cousin Taehyung,” he declares, “you can see before you the happiest of men, thanks to the lovely Mr. Jeon.”

Taehyung does not doubt it. Whether the reverse is true, however, is less certain. Taehyung puts on a polite face for his friend’s sake, but truth is he does not understand what could have possessed him to take such a man as Mr. Pent for husband. He tells Seokjin as much, as they are settled on a bench in the garden with half an hour to spare before they are called in for dinner. 

“Seokjin, it was such a humiliating spectacle. He knows he's marrying one of the stupidest men in England. I never believed him capable of that.”

“Well, Taehyung-ah, our cousin, Mr. Pent, is not the cleverest of men, perhaps, but he is respectable. He is not vicious. And, as far as fortune goes, it is an eligible match.”

Taehyung huffs in a very un-gentleman-like manner. “But you would never think of marrying a man like that, simply to secure your own comfort,” he practically whines. 

“No, but, Taehyungie, not everyone is the same,” his brother replies with the patience of an angel. 

“Well, I doubt that you will have to make a choice between marrying for love and marrying for more material considerations,” Taehyung declares, feeling his mood lift at the thought. 

Seokjin looks like he’s about to say something, but they are interrupted by a knock on the door. A maid comes in and hands a letter to Seokjin. 

“This came, just now, from Netherfield, Master,” she tells him.

Seokjin’s face betrays no emotion, but Taehyung knows better. He raises an eyebrow, as if to say ‘I told you so’ a propos of a certain potential engagement. Seokjin kicks his brother gently in the shin, making the younger laugh. He thanks the maid and quickly scans the contents of the letter. For an instant he looks uncharacteristically sad, but soon his mask of indifference is back. 

“It is from Jung Wheein,” he informs Taehyung. “She writes that the whole party will have left Netherfield by now for London, and without any intention of coming back again.”

“What?” Taehyung can’t help but explain. 

“See for yourself,” Seokjin says defeatedly, handing over the offending piece of paper. 

_My dearest Seokjin,_

_I am writing to inform you that we are travelling away from Hertfordshire tomorrow, and deeply apologize for the manner in which we take our leave. I would have wished to see you one last time, but circumstances will not allow for it._

_My brother, Hoseok, at first thought that the business, which takes him to London, might be concluded in a few days. But we are certain that this cannot be so. I am convinced that, when Hoseok gets to town, he will be in no hurry to leave it again. I do not pretend to regret anything I shall leave in Hertfordshire, my dearest friend, except your society._

_Mr. Park, of course, is impatient to see his sister. To confess the truth, I am scarcely less eager to meet her again, from the hope I dare to entertain of her being, hereafter, also my sister. Am I wrong, my dearest Seokjin, in indulging in the hope of an event which will secure the happiness of so many?_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Jung Wheein._

Taehyung looks up, disbelief clear on his features. Seokjin speaks before he has time to voice his opinion, though. 

“Is it not clear enough? Jung Wheein is convinced her brother is indifferent to me, and she means, most kindly, to put me on my guard. Oh, Taehyungie, can there be any other opinion on the subject?”

“Well, yes, there can! Miss Jung sees that her brother is in love with you, and she wants him to marry Miss Park. She hopes to keep him in town, and persuade you that he does not care about you.”

Seokjin shakes his head and lets out a shaky breath. Taehyung wishes nothing more than to convince him of his take on the matter. 

“Taehyungie, you always say that I am too prompt in believing in the goodness of this world, but it is you who is the better optimist out of the both of us,” he says as he brings his hand to his brother’s cheek, fondness clear in his gaze. 

But Taehyung will not have it. He hates to see Seokjin like this. 

“Indeed, Seokjinnie, you ought to believe me. No one who has seen you and Mr. Jung together can doubt his affection.”

“I cannot believe Wheein is capable of wilful deceit,” Seokjin tells him resolutely. “All I can hope for, in this case, is that she is deceived herself.”

Taehyung lets out a sound of protest. “Believe her to be deceived, by all means, but she can hardly convince a man so much in love, that he is in love with someone else instead,” he declares. “If Mr. Jung is not back by your side and dining at Longbourn within two weeks, I should be very much surprised.”

o o o

“Oh, young Kang Seulgi is such a charming young woman, is she not, my dear?” comments Mrs. Kim as they are all sitting in the drawing room after being paid a visit by a few members of the Meryton regiment that they are acquainted to. 

“What?” Mr. Kim says, barely looking away from his book. “Oh, indeed, she is. It was very good of her to entertain us so eloquently with stories about her misfortunes. With such narratives to hand who would read novels?” 

Taehyung thinks the joke a little inappropriate. “But I believe she's truly been treated contemptibly by Mr. Park, father.” 

“Of course you’d think that. You’re in love,” Yerim remarks with a grin, drawing out the last voyel. Taehyung, not above a little childishness despite his twenty years of age, sends a ribbon flying in her direction and misses his target only by a few inches. 

Their mother is not amused. 

“Though officer Kang has taken a fancy to you, I'm sure you've done nothing to deserve it, after your dealings with Mr. Pent,” she states. “Well, it is all in vain anyway. Oh, the poor young woman, if only she had even a modest fortune, I would be happy to see her married to any of my children.” She sighs, watching her eldest son, the prised jewel of her collection, prick his finger on a needle. “But nothing turns out the way it should. And now, Mr. Jung, of whom we all had such expectations, is gone off forever!”

“What?” Taehyung interjects most eloquently, looking at his brother for an explanation. 

“I have heard again from Jung Wheein. It is now quite definite that they will stay in town for the whole winter,” Seokjin provides obligingly, expression resigned. 

Taehyung can’t believe it, but he restrains from saying so, refusing to put salt on the wound. 

“I don't know what will become of us all,” their mother wails dramatically. “Indeed, I do not. And I cannot bear to think of Jeon Jeongguk being master of this house. That I should be forced to make way for him, and live to see him take my place in it.”

“My dear, do not give way to such gloomy thoughts,” her husband chastises. “Let us hope for better things. Let us flatter ourselves, that I might outlive you.”

“Oh!” she says, shocked and outraged at his subsequent chuckle. “You have no respect for my poor nerves.” 

o o o

“You mustn't be anxious for me, Taehyung-ah,” Seokjin tells him that evening as he waits for his freshly-washed hair to dry by the fireplace in his brother’s room. “He will be forgotten. And we shall all be as we were before. I may remember him as the most amiable man of my acquaintance, but that is all. I have nothing to either hope or fear, and nothing to reproach him with.”

Taehyung’s heart falls, because he isn’t sure which of the two of them Seokjin is trying to convince with those words. “Oh, dear Seokjin. You are too good, your sweetness and disinterestedness are truly angelic.”

“Don't tease me, Taehyungie,” Seokjin forbids. 

“That was neither my intention nor my deed. We are so different, is all,” he observes. “Seokjin, what if you were to go to town? I'm sure our aunt Youngsun and uncle Namjoon would be very happy to have you visit them at Gracechurch Street after Christmas.” 

“And why would you have me go to London, Taehyung-ah?” His tone makes it clear he suspects exactly why his brother had made that particular suggestion, but appreciates the effort made at improving his morale. 

“Oh, no reason,” Taehyung replies innocently. “Change of scene and society?”

And so, on a fine late december morning, Seokjin leaves for London. Taehyung is glad to see him look forward to it, but finds himself close to regretting having made the suggestion on more than one occasion, as he finds himself feeling rather lonely - Jeongguk’s absence doesn’t help either. He is glad for his brother’s frequent letters, though a little preoccupied by the content of the last one he received. He has it with him now, tucked in the lapels of his coat, for he wishes to read it again as he strolls across the frost-covered countryside. 

_My dearest Taehyung-ah,_

_Here we continue at Gracechurch Street to be quiet and comfortable, and our aunt and uncle could not be kinder or more attentive. All I lack here, dear Taehyung, is you to make me laugh at myself._

_You will remember that, three weeks ago, when our aunt was going into that part of town, I took the opportunity of calling on Miss Jung in Grosvenor Street. I was very eager to see Wheein again, and I thought that she was glad to see me, though a little out of spirits. She reproached me for giving her no notice of my coming to London and thought it very strange that both my letters should have gone astray when asked about them._

_My visit was not long, as she was about to go out, but she gave me every promise of calling at Gracechurch Street in a day or two. I waited at home every morning for three weeks. And, at length, today she came. I know, my dear Taehyung, you will be incapable of triumphing at my expense, when I confess I have been entirely deceived in Miss Jung’s regard for me. She made it very evident that she took no pleasure in seeing me._

_When I asked after her brother, she made it clear that he knows of my being in town, but is much engaged at present, with Mr. Park and his sister. I must conclude, then, that Mr. Jung now no longer cares for me._

_Yours,_

_S._

Very strange, indeed, that Seokjin’s letters should go missing, Taehyung quietly broods, kicking an innocent pebble on his path. Oh, how he wishes he could be by his brother’s side to comfort him in person. Seokjin never shows his trials, always mindful of not being a source of worry for those around him, but years have taught Taehyung that sometimes even his brother needs a shoulder to cry on. Now use dwelling on the misfortune of their separation, though: a kind letter will have to do. 

o o o

March arrives fast, and with it Taehyung’s journey to Hunsford. He is busy filling his luggage with everything he’ll need and everything he won’t, though it is almost certain that something will be left forgotten. It’s a good thing he and Jeongguk are approximately the same size. 

On the day before his departure, Taehyung is pleased to receive the visit of Kang Seulgi. She stays only for a short while, but it makes him happy nonetheless. 

“I heard that you are going into Kent. I felt I could not let you go without calling to see you once.”

“I am very glad you did,” Taheyung admits as they tread the garden’s neat paths. “I have missed our conversations. 

Officer Kang stops in her tracks, looking up to her companion. She opens her mouth a few times, choosing her words with care. “Mr. Kim, I would wish you to believe me that, had circumstances been different…”

Oh. The confirmation is difficult to hear, despite the fact that they should both be well aware of the impossibility of a future union between them. Money is what rules the world, and neither of them have any, and therefore they must resolve to thinking of romance as a luxury they cannot afford. Still, it’s nice to have acknowledgement of what Taehyung felt in his heart, that there was something special to their relationship. 

“Had old Mr. Park never had a son,” Taehyung continues, showing his companion he knows exactly what she is referring to. “Oh, yes. But life is full of these trials, as we are reminded daily. I sincerely wish you every happiness in the world.”

Taehyung offers a soft smile, that officer Kang returns. 

“You are very forbearing.”

“I flatter myself, I am. I think Seokjin will be quite proud of me,” Taehyung laughs. 

“I hope you and I will always be good friends.”

“I'm sure we shall, Miss Kang.”

The Kim house is the theatre of great commotion, the next day, as travel trunks are transported from Taehyung’s room to be secured on the carriage he will be sharing with Jeongguk’s father. 

“Well, Taehyungie, on pleasure bent again, I see,” Mr. Kim comments teasingly, closing the book he’s just finished reading. “Never've thought of what your poor parents will suffer in your absence.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes light-heartedly. “It is a pleasure I could well forego, father, as I think you know. But I shall be happy to see Jeongguk again.”

“What of your cousin, Mr. Pent? What of the famous Lady Lee Sunmi, herself? As a connoisseur of human folly I should have thought you impatient to be savouring these delights.”

Taehyung chuckles, amused by his father’s dry sense of humor. “Of some delights, I believe, sir, a little goes a long way.”

Mr. Kim nods his agreement. “Yes. Well, think of me, Taehyung-ah. Till you or your brother return I shall not hear two words of sense spoken together in this household. You'll be very much missed, my dear.”

There is some truth lying beneath those sharp words of humor, Taehyung knows. His father takes his hand and kisses it, in a rare display of physical affection. Taehyung treasures it, and heads off to Kent. 

o o o

The journey is tiresome, as they always are. But Taehyung enjoys the emptiness of mind that comes with his ears being filled by the sound of neighing horses and the crunch of wheels on uneven roads, and he allows his thoughts to drift along with the quintessentially english countryside of neat hedges erected over gently rolling hills. Sir Jeon is an amiable companion, neither too talkative nor too silent. 

They arrive at Hunsford a little before five, and find Jeongguk and his husband waiting for them in front of a lovely parsonage. The house seems well-kept, of decent size, and has a nice garden attached. Mr. Pent, of course, is very proud of it, Taehyung isn’t surprised to discover once the usual formalities have been exchanged. Indeed, the guests are treated to a comprehensive visit of it all. 

“The staircase, I flatter myself, is eminently suitable for a clergyman in my position, being neither too shallow, nor too steep,” Mr. Pent informs them solemnly. 

Sir Jeon proves to be a very pleasant and patient father-in-law. “As serviceable a staircase as I have ever seen, sir.”

“Though it is nothing, of course, to the staircases you see at Rosings,” Taheyung’s cousin goes on. “I say _staircases_ , because there are several, and each, in its own way, very fine. And here, if you will permit me, cousin Taehyung,” he announces as he opens a door. “This will be your bedchamber while you are with us. And, I trust, that you will find it comfortable and convenient.”

“Indeed, it is a very pleasant room,” Taehyung replies obligingly. The bed is of a particular appeal to his tired eyes. 

“Observe that closet, cousin Taehyung. What do you say to that?” Mr. Pent asks, opening a very ordinary-looking closet, in Taehyung’s humble opinion. The clergyman’s next words are out before Taehyung can respond. “Is it not the very essence of practicality and convenience? Lady Lee Sunmi, herself, was kind enough to suggest that these shelves be fitted exactly as you see them there.” 

“Shelves in the closet? Happy thought, indeed,” Taehyung remarks.

“Oh, she is kindness itself. Nothing is too small to be beneath her notice. Is it not, my dear?”

“She is a very attentive neighbour,” Jeongguk replies agreeably. 

“We dine at Rosings Park twice every week, and are never allowed to walk home. No, her ladyship's carriage is regularly ordered for us. I should say, one of her ladyship's _carriages_ , for she has several. And now, Sir Jeon, you were kind enough to express a wish to see my gardens.”

The two men exit, en route to discover Hunsford’s other splendours, leaving the two friends alone. 

“Jinyoung tends to the gardens himself, and spends a good part of every day in them,” Jeongguk explains. 

“The exercise must be beneficial.”

“Well, yes. I encourage him to be in his garden as much as possible. And then he has to walk to Rosings nearly every day.” 

“So often?” Taehyung questions. “Is that necessary?” 

Jeongguk hums. “Perhaps not, but I confess, I encourage him in that as well.”

Taehyung nods, seeing through his young friend’s manipulation but playing along. “Walking is very beneficial exercise.”

“Oh, indeed, it is,” Jeongguk acquiesces. “And when he is in the house, he is mostly in his book room, which affords a good view of the road whenever Lady Sunmi’s carriage should drive by. I prefer to sit in the parlour. So, it often happens that a whole day passes in which we have not spent more than a few minutes in each other's company.”

“I see.”

“I find that I can bear the solitude very cheerfully,” Jeongguk says with a smile. Taehyung admires his strength, as their personalities are quite diametrically opposed in that respect. “I find myself quite content with my situation, Taehyung-ah.”

Taehyung looks into Jeongguk’s eyes and sees no deceit in them, so he smiles, happy for his friend. They engage in a friendly embrace, and it gives them both much comfort after such a long separation. 

o o o

“There are thirty-two gardeners,” Mr. Pent informs his guests as the quartet make their way to the entrance of Lady Sunmi’s residence. It is grand and beautiful indeed, Taehyung will admit now that he finally sees it. “Mark the windows,” his cousin points out, “there are sixty-four in all. Sixty-four. And I have it, on good authority, that the glazing alone originally cost an excess of six hundred pounds.”

“It is a very handsome building and prettily situated, sir, and by no means lacking in windows,” Taehyung concedes as he does up the buttons lining his overcoat, the cold biting on that particular afternoon. 

“Oh, do not make yourself uneasy, my dear cousin, about your apparel,” Mr. Pent says, not unkindly, as he notices Taehyung’s gesture. “Lady Sunmi is far from requiring that elegance of dress in us, which becomes herself and her daughter. She will not think the worse of you for being simply dressed. She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved.”

Taehyung grimaces at the misunderstanding. “Why, thank you, Mr. Pent, that is a great comfort.”

They are shown into an elaborately-decorated drawing room and sit two-by-two on opposing sofas, with the famous Lady Lee Sunmi presiding the assembly from a grand armchair and her daughter - Siyeon, Taehyung thinks her name is - sitting opposite her. The lady is about as Taehyung expected, full of herself and used to having everything her way. The daughter, however, looks sickly and cross. She will do very well, Taehyung thinks, and make him a proper wife for a man such as Mr. Park.

“Your friend appears to be quite a gentile, pretty sort of boy, Mr. Pent,” Lady Sunmi remarks to Jeongguk in her imperious voice. “Her father's estate is to be entailed to Mr. Pent, I understand.”

“Yes, Ma'am,” confirms Taehyung’s cousin, “and I am, believe me -”

“Do you have brothers and sisters, Mr. Kim?” the lady interrogates with little regard for her pastor’s words. 

“Yes, Ma'am, I am the second of four children.”

“Are any of your younger siblings out in society yet?” she enquires. 

“Yes, Ma'am,” Taehyung confirms. “All of them.”

“All?” Lady Sunmi exclaims in a manner that makes her disapproval obvious. “What, all four out at once? The younger ones out before the older are married?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Their host turns her head away from Taehyung, signifying the end of that manifestly unpleasant topic of conversation, but her young guest goes on. “I feel it would be very hard upon younger siblings to expect that they not have their share of society and amusement, simply because their elder siblings have not the means, or inclination, to marry early.”

An uncomfortable silence follows his words, but Jeongguk smiles, amused at the sight of Lady Sunmi’s authority being uncharacteristically challenged, and that makes it all worth it. “Upon my word,” Lady Sunmi finally declares, “you give your opinion very decidedly for so young a person.”

Taehyung decides to take that as a compliment, even though he’s fairly sure that wasn’t her intention. Mr. Pent sends him a deeply disapproving look from across the room, but Taehyung can’t say he cares much about having fallen even further in that particular man’s esteem. 

The next week is spent in a pleasant manner. Taehyung and Jeongguk go for daily walks around the countryside and the woods surrounding Rosings, and Taehyung grows a particular affection for them after spotting fluffy rabbits there on more than one occasion. The small creatures are too wise to show themselves to anyone in Hertfordshire, for a sighting would cause all the gentlemen in the region to organise a hunt, and Taehyung had dearly missed them. 

They receive an unexpected visit, one sunny afternoon. Jeongguk and Taehyung are just making their way back to the house when they are met with Mr. Pent, visibly distressed and appearance disorderly after having run to them. 

“Make haste!” he tells them, surprisingly loudly for a man so out of breath. “Mr. Park has arrived at Rosings to visit his aunt, and with him, his cousin, Colonel Lee Taemin, the youngest son of the Earl of Matlock. And the gentlemen have vouchsafed us the greatest honour of coming to call on us at the parsonage. Make haste!” he repeats, trotting back himself in his eagerness to give his illustrious guests a warm welcome. 

“I think this must be due to you, Taehyung,” Jeongguk says with a chuckle once his husband is out of earshot. “Mr. Park would never have come so soon to wait upon me.”

“You are mistaken, Jeongguk, for I know he dislikes me as much as I do him.”

They walk back at a brisk pace, neither wishing to be exposed to Mr. Pent’s displeasure if they linger too long outside. Two gentlemen are, indeed, waiting for them in the parlour when they arrive. Mr. Park, who turns to them only to bow briefly before once again losing himself in the contemplation of the neatly-trimmed hedge one can see from the window, and his cousin, the colonel Lee. He is a strikingly handsome man, physically much alike to Mr. Park if for his slightly taller frame. He has a charming smile which he makes liberal use of all throughout their conversation, and Taehyung takes an instant liking to him. 

“I am delighted to make your acquaintance at last, Mr. Kim,” the colonel says once the introductions are done and they are all seated. Well, all except Mr. Park, naturally. 

“At last, sir?” Taehyung questions, with perhaps a hint of flirtiness in his tone. 

“Well, I've heard much of you, and none of the praise has been exaggerated, I can assure you,” Colonel Lee responds pleasantly, a twinkle in his eyes.

“Oh, well, I can well believe that,” Taehyung laughs. “Mr. Park is my severest critic.”

That earns him Mr. Park’s attention, as Taehyung notices him turning to face them. Lee Taemin doesn’t seem to know what to say to that, and for a second Taehyung regrets having made him uncomfortable before deciding that it was well worth it if his words had even half of that effect on Mr. Park himself. 

“I hope we shall see you frequently at Rosings while we're there,” the colonel says with a kind smile. “I am fond of lively conversation.”

“Why, this you do not find at Rosings Park?” Taehyung teases good-naturedly, making the other man chuckle. 

“Well, my aunt does talk a great deal, but seldom requires a response. My friend there speaks hardly a word when he comes into Kent,” he adds, gesturing vaguely in Mr. Park’s general vicinity. “Though he is lively enough in other places.”

That, Taehyung finds hard to believe, but he supposes it is kind of the colonel to try to paint his cousin in a flattering light. Mr. Park is still staring at him, he notices, which is rather rude - especially as Mr. Pent is desperately trying to catch his attention by describing the ingenious design of the window behind him. 

Suddenly Mr. Park walks over to Taehyung and Colonel Lee. “I hope your family is in good health,” he says abruptly. 

“I thank you, yes,” Taehyung answers curtly. He notices the colonel closely monitoring their interaction, and continues. “My brother has been in town these three months, have you never happened to see him?”

“No. No, I have not had that pleasure.”

He walks to the window, hands clasped behind his back. The colonel still looks puzzled, so Taehyung decides to give him an explanation of their uneasy behaviour around one another. 

“Mr. Park and I, you see, are not the best of friends,” he stage-whispers. 

“Well, I am very surprised to hear that,” Taehyung’s new friend declares. 

“Why should you be? I always believe in first impressions, and his good opinion once lost, is lost forever,” Taehyung says, repeating the words Mr. Park had spoken himself, all those months ago, that evening in Netherfield. “So, you see, it is a hopeless case, is it not, Colonel Lee?”

The colonel seems quite amused, and Taehyung is glad to have found a partner in his quest to tourment Mr. Park, who has not smiled once since Taehyung set foot in the house. Probably not anytime before that either, come to think of it. 

o o o

Colonel Lee turns the pages of Taehyung’s music score while the other’s hands are otherwise engaged, travelling the delicate keys on the pianoforte in the Rosings drawing room. Taehyung sends the man a grateful smile and focuses all of his attention on the piece. Even so, his playing could at best be deemed choppy, if one compared it to that of a young person more accomplished than him, such as Miss Jung. Taehyung never had the patience to learn much as a child, and he regrets it whenever he finds himself forced to play in society. This time at Colonel Lee’s urging. 

“You will never play really well, Mr. Kim, unless you practice more,” calls out Lady Sunmi from where she is perched on her throne, final notes of the poorly performed piece still ringing in all of their ears. “You may come to Rosings as often as you like and play on the pianoforte in the summer parlour. You would be in nobody's way in that part of the house.” 

“Thank you, Ma'am,” Taehyung says respectfully. 

“There are few people in England, I suppose,” she continues, talking to no one in particular but with Mr. Pent hanging to her every word, naturally, “who have more true enjoyment in music than myself. Or a better taste,” she adds as an afterthought. 

Mr. Park gets up and walks towards the pianoforte, and Taehyung takes it as a cue to start playing again. Mr. Park stands right in front of the instrument, staring at Taehyung with a rare intensity. Taehyung is unable to tear his gaze away, for some reason, despite his music sheet requiring most immediate attention. 

“Do you mean to frighten me, Mr. Park, by coming in all this state to hear me?” he enquires innocently, batting his eyelashes. “But I won't be alarmed. My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.” Mr. Park smirks, and Taehyung wants nothing more than to wipe the expression off his face. “Indeed, it provokes me to retaliate,” he continues, turning to his cousin and consequently hitting the wrong key, “and say something of your behaviour in Hertfordshire, which may shock your relations.”

The colonel pretends to gasp, eyes shining with glee. 

“I am not afraid of you,” Mr. Park says with an amused smile.

“What have you to accuse him of? I should dearly like to know how he behaves among strangers,” his cousin asks simultaneously. 

Taehyung stops playing, taking a moment to savour the attention directed at him, and launches into his teasing accusations. “The first time I ever saw Mr. Park was at a ball, where he outright refused to dance, though gentlemen were scarce, and more than one young person was in want of a partner.”

Colonel Lee laughs, declaring he can well believe it his cousin guilty of such a crime, and Mr. Park has the decency to fiddle with his signet ring, looking a little ashamed of himself. 

“I fear I am ill qualified to recommend myself to strangers,” he finally provides in lieu of an excuse. 

“Why should a man of sense and education be ill qualified to recommend himself to strangers?” Taehyung questions, fixing him. 

“I'm… I have not that talent, which some possess, of conversing easily with strangers.” 

“Well, I do not play this instrument so well as I should wish to, but I have always supposed that to be my own fault, because I would not take the trouble of practising,” Taehyung easily counters. 

“You are perfectly right,” Mr. Park admits, a small smile gracing his features. It really makes him look somewhat angelic, but Taehyung knows better than to trust his pure appearance after officer Kang’s revelations. 

o o o

Taehyung is sitting at the desk in the drawing room at Hunsford, writing a letter to Seokjin and caught up in his vivid description of Mr. Park’s obvious contempt for his intended bride, when a servant announces that very man’s presence. 

“Mr. Park,” Taehyung says as he stands, surprised. The gentleman takes off his hat and bows. “Mr. Pent and his husband are just now gone into Hunsford village with Sir Jeon. You find me all alone this morning, Mr. Park.”

“I beg your pardon, I would not wish to intrude upon your privacy,” he answers, misunderstanding Taehyung’s explanation for an expression of his displeasure at seeing him. That isn’t entirely untrue, but Taehyung is too polite to really mean it. 

Taehyung wracks his brain to find a suitable topic of conversation, as the silence stretches uncomfortably between them and Mr. Park shows no inclination to fill it. “I was just writing a letter to my brother in London, that is all.”

“Ah.”

More silence. For once, Mr. Park seems just as uneasy as Taehyung feels, crossing and uncrossing his legs awkwardly. 

“Mr. Jung and his sister were well, I hope, when you left London,” Taehyung enquires. 

“Perfectly so, I thank you.”

“I understand Mr. Jung has not much idea for ever returning to Netherfield.”

“It is probable that he may spend very little time there in the future,” Mr. Park confirms coldly. He stares off into the room. “It seems a very comfortable house. Lady Sunmi, I understand, did a great deal to it when Mr. Pent first came to Hunsford.”

Taehyung nods, puzzled by the purpose of the man’s visit. Is he really here to discuss the practicality of the house? Taehyung would have thought that they both agreed Mr. Pent did quite enough of that already. “I believe she did. I'm sure she could not have bestowed her kindness on a more grateful recipient.”

Mr. Park chuckles. The sound is not entirely unpleasant, Taehyung supposes. 

“Mr. Pent appears extremely fortunate in his choice of husband,” he comments. 

“Yes, indeed, he is,” Taehyung agrees. “Seen in a prudential light, it is a good match for Jeongguk as well.” 

“It must be very agreeable for him to be settled within so easy a distance of his family.” 

Taehyung would hardly call fifty miles an easy distance, but he stays quiet. “Near and far are relative terms,” he comments carefully instead. “It might be desirable, in some cases, to be settled not too close to one’s family.”

“Yes, exactly,” Mr Park acquiesces. He looks Taehyung straight in the eye. “You would not wish to be always near Longbourn, I think.”

Taehyung has no idea what brought about the sudden question, nor what it implies. Is it another one of Mr. Park’s veiled insults directed at his family? 

However, Taehyung is spared the trouble of settling on some answer or other when Mr. Park stands, abruptly taking his leave. “I shall trespass on your time no longer. Please convey my regards to your hosts.”

He leaves Taehyung more confused than he had ever been before, but then again, tormenting the younger man’s peace of mind might’ve been the very purpose of Mr. Park’s visit. Taehyung lets out a sigh, deciding to dwell on it no longer. Well, maybe only a little more, because he must write of this encounter to Seokjin. 

The next day, Taehyung comes across Colonel Lee as he walks around the woods on Rosings’ extensive grounds. Jeongguk hadn’t accompanied him this time, preferring to call on a sick parisher with his husband instead. 

“Mr. Kim!” he calls out, waving and removing his hat in salutation. 

Taehyung returns the gesture and walks towards him at a brisk pace, glad for the company. 

“I've been making the tour of the park, as I do every year,” the colonel explains, offering his arm for Taehyung to take. “Shall we take this way together?”

“With pleasure.” 

They begin walking, the colonel pointing out the things he thinks have changed since he was last at Rosings.

“Do you know Mr. Jung and his sister?” Taehyung asks, conversationnely more than out of genuine curiosity. 

“I know them a little. Mr. Jung is a pleasant, gentlemanlike fellow. He's a great friend of Jimin’s.”

“Oh, yes. Mr Park is uncommonly kind to Mr. Jung,” Taehyung replies, hoping the sarcasm wasn’t too evident in his tone. Luckily, his companion doesn’t seem to take notice of it. 

“Oh, yes, I believe Jimin does take care of him. I understand that he congratulates himself on having lately saved Mr. Jung the inconvenience of a most imprudent marriage.”

Taehyung’s interest is piqued, a cold sense of dread taking over his body. “Did Mr. Park explain the reason for this interference?”

“I understand there were some very strong objections to the young man in question.”

“And why was he to be the judge?” Taehyung says, rather too harshly. “I do not see what right Mr Park had to determine and direct in what manner his friend was to be happy. But, as you say, we know none of the particulars. Perhaps there was not much affection in the case,” he ventures carefully. 

The colonel hums. “Perhaps not,” he says, “but if that were the case, it would lessen the honour of my cousin's triumph very sadly, don't you think?”

No, Taehyung doesn’t think that. In fact, he strongly disagrees. Oh, to think the man everyone thinks so highly of has not only slighted Miss Kang but also ruined Seokjin’s one chance at a happy marriage… It is too much. 

He must look very pale, because the colonel appears very concerned. “Mr. Kim, are you unwell?”

Taehyung grasps at the excuse as if it were a lifeline. “A sudden headache. Perhaps I've walked too far today,” he lies easily. 

“Let us take the shorter way back,” offers Colonel Lee, ever gentlemanly.

Taehyung is sad, so sad. He wonders if it is best to tell Seokjin of his discovery, or if that would only make the regrets harder for him to put up with. 

o o o

A few hours, Taehyung is sitting at the windowsill in his room, trying his best to ignore the commotion around him as the others prepare to depart for tea at Rosings. 

“You're sure Taehyungie? Because I would willingly stay at home with you, and brave all Lady Sunmi’s displeasure,” Jeongguk says with a small, compassionate pout. 

“My dear Jeongguk, I beg you to consider…” they hear Mr. Pent lament from the stairway, and both ignore him. 

“I shall be quite all right,” Taehyung assures, putting on a brave face for his friend’s face. “It's only a headache. It will pass. And, I'm sure, more speedily in quiet and solitude.” 

“And I am quite sure, when all the circumstances are fully explained to Lady Sunmi, she will not be angry,” Mr. Pent adds quite unnecessarily from where he is now lingering at the door. “For she has, indeed, such Christian generosity of spirit -”

“My dear, the time,” Jeongguk interrupts. 

The look of panic on his cousin’s face very nearly makes Taehyung laugh, even in his gloomy state. 

“Oh, my dear, why did you not say before? I cannot begin to count the occasions on which her ladyship has impressed upon the sovereign importance on punctuality!”

Jeongguk sends him an amused glance and, five minutes later, they are all gone. Taehyung closes his eyes and exhales slowly, trying to make order in his mind. He fears that soon his invented headache will become reality. 

He must doze off for a while, for it is the sound of horseshoes outside his window that awakes him. He goes down to the parlour to see whose visit it is that he is to receive at such a late hour, and finds a servant hastily climbing the stairs, obviously having been sent to fetch him. 

“T’is Mr. Park,” the boy says. 

Of course it is, Taehyung thinks, for the gods are not smiling upon him today. Well, at the very least Taehyung should take this as an opportunity to give the man a piece of his mind, since there is no one else around who might hear. 

Mr. Park bows quickly when Taehyung enters the room. 

“Forgive me. I hope you are feeling better.”

Ah. He must have come straight from Rosings, then. 

“I am, thank you,” replies Taehyung, mustering a smile he hopes looks polite enough. If not, too bad. “Will you not sit down?”

It becomes apparent that Mr. Park will, in fact, not sit down when he starts pacing the room in the most awkward manner. He faces Taehyung, opens his mouth as if to say something, then seems to think better of it and walks to the fireplace. 

Finally, he speaks. In retrospect, Taehyung wishes he hadn’t. 

“In vain I have struggled,” he starts, voice uncharacteristically shaky and looking anywhere but at his audience. “It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

Taehyung lets his mouth fall open most inelegantly, too stunned by the confession to bother schooling his features into something acceptable. Mr. Park doesn’t notice, of course, nervously stumbling through the rest of his discourse. Manifestly one written with little care for the feelings of its listener, Taehyung thinks bitterly. 

“In declaring myself thus,” he continues, “I am fully aware that I will be going expressly against the wishes of my family, my friends, and, I hardly need add, my own better judgment. The relative situation of our families is such that any alliance between us must be regarded as a highly reprehensible connection. Indeed, as a rational man, I cannot but regard it as such myself, but it cannot be helped.” 

Charming, really. Taehyung would snort under any less shocking circumstance. Mr. Park seems to finally remember Taehyung’s existence and looks at him. There is a flame of passion burning in his gaze that negates any suspicion of dishonesty Taehyung might have had, a desperation to his expression he would never have thought to witness in such a usually stoic man. Mr. Park is right in front of him now, voice low and urgent, intimate in a way that leaves Taehyung baffled. 

“Almost from the earliest moments of our acquaintance, I have come to feel for you a passionate admiration and regard, which, despite all my struggles, has overcome every rational objection, and I beg you, most fervently, to relieve my suffering and consent to be my husband.”

Mr. Park stares expectantly, but Taehyung is in no haste to relieve his suffering. Instead, he allows himself an instant to gather his wits. 

“In such cases as these, I believe the established mode is to express a sense of obligation,” he starts, rising from his seat so that he may be level with Mr. Park or indeed, as nature would have it, surpass him in height. Those few extra centimeters are what gives him the courage to speak candidly. “But I cannot.” 

Taehyung hears more than he sees Mr. Park take a quick inhale, posture stern and defensive once again. 

“I have never desired your good opinion,” he goes on, “and you have certainly bestowed it most unwillingly. I am sorry to cause pain to anyone, but it was most unconsciously done, and I hope will be of short duration.”

Mr. Park turns away. For a blissful second, Taehyung thinks that it marks the end of that painful conversation. 

“And this is all the reply I am to expect?” he enquires, tone controlled but unmistakably tinged with anger. “I might wonder why, with so little effort at civility, I am rejected.”

“And I might wonder why, with so evident a desire to offend and insult me, you chose to tell me that you like me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character,” Taehyung counters, equally seething. “Was this not some excuse for incivility, if I was uncivil?”

Taehyung takes a deep breath, trying to keep himself from losing his temper, as Seokjin would encourage him to do if he were there with him. 

“I have every reason in the world to think ill of you,” Taehyung declares. If anything, his calmer appearance seems to displease Mr. Park even more, if the frown on his forehead is anything to go by. “Do you think any consideration would tempt me to accept the man who's been the means of ruining the happiness of a most beloved brother? Can you deny that you have done it?”

“I have no wish to deny it. I did everything in my power to separate my friend from your brother, and I rejoice in my success. Towards him I have been kinder than towards myself.”

Neither his words nor his demeanour leave any place for regret, something that Taehyung should have expected and yet it still manages to surprise him. 

“But it is not merely that on which my dislike of you is founded,” he forces himself to explain nonetheless. “Long before it had taken place my dislike of you was decided when I heard officer Kang’s story of your dealings with her. How can you defend yourself on that subject?”

“And you take an eager interest in that woman’s concerns!” Mr. Park accuses in a jealous snarl, voice now closer to a shout than a whisper. 

“Who that knows what her misfortunes have been could help feeling an interest in her?”

“Her misfortunes,” Mr. Park repeats with a malicious smile. “Yes, her misfortunes have been great indeed!”

Taehyung can’t believe he has the audacity to imply that Kang Seulgi’s torment wasn’t so important, when having robbed her of her rightful inheritance will most likely affect her chances at a better future.

“And of your infliction,” Taehyung points out, outraged. “You have reduced her to her present state of poverty, and yet you treat her misfortunes with contempt and ridicule.”

Silence falls, and Taehyung takes that as a sign that victory in this argument is his. 

“And this is your opinion of me?” Mr. Park finally asks, more to himself than Taehyung. There is sadness in his tone, but Taehyung, though he would usually consider himself a generous soul, refuses to feel sorry for him. “My faults by this calculation are heavy indeed.”

Taehyung doesn’t quite see what other calculations there could be. He sits and watches as Mr. Park picks up his hat and walks to the door. Mr. Park turns to speak again, and Taehyung sincerely hopes it will be the last time. 

“But perhaps these offences might have been overlooked had not your pride been hurt by the honest confession of the scruples which had long prevented my forming any serious design on you. Had I concealed my struggles and flattered you,” Mr. Park says bitterly. “But disguise of every sort is my abhorrence. Nor am I ashamed of the feelings I related. They were natural and just. Did you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections? To congratulate myself on the hope of relations whose condition in life is so decidedly below my own?”

Taehyung gets up and marches up to him, not wanting to leave any chance of his words being misunderstood. 

“You're mistaken, Mr Park,” he states coldly. “The mode of your declaration merely spared me any concern I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner. You could not have made me the offer of your hand in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it. From the very beginning, your manners impressed me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain for the feelings of others. I had not known you a month before I felt you were the last man in the world whom I could ever marry.”

Mr. Park quickly looks away from him, but not fast enough for the flash of pain in his eyes to go unnoticed. Not that Taehyung cares, of course. 

“You have said quite enough, sir. I perfectly comprehend your feelings. And now have only to be ashamed of what my own have been. Please forgive me for having taken up your time and accept my best wishes for your health and happiness.”

He bows and leaves, not looking back. Taehyung is emotionally drained, not knowing whether to cry or scream. Perhaps his exhaustion is to blame when he is suddenly taken with hysterics, imagining his mother’s reaction if she ever caught wind of the conversation the walls of this parlour room bear witness to.


	4. Pemberley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish you all a pleasant read and a very happy new year!

“Oh, you do look pale, Taehyung. Why don’t you have some breakfast? I’m sure it will do you good.”

“No, I’m well, Jeongguk,” the elder replies, smiling unconvincingly. In truth he is still not recovered from the shock of Mr. Park’s declaration. “I think I’ve stayed indoors too long. Fresh air and exercise is all I need. The woods around Rosings are so beautiful at this time of year.”

Taehyung excuses himself and exits, grabbing his hat and overcoat on the way out. A walk in nature will help him settle his thoughts, he hopes. He strolls around in silence, Mr. Park’s words haunting his mind: ‘you must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.’ They have been ringing in his ears ever since they were spoken, and it has been a source of frustration and annoyance for Taehyung ever since. He can’t believe he mistook Mr. Park’s feelings for him quite so severely. 

He strays off the path to observe a couple of squirrels chasing each other around a thick tree trunk, their red tails swishing anxiously. 

“Mr. Kim,” he hears from behind him. 

Taehyung is tempted to just refuse to acknowledge Mr. Park’s presence, but that would be uncivil, and they both did enough of that yesterday. 

“Mr. Park,” he says, still looking at the squirrels. 

“I’ve been walking the grove some time in hope of meeting you. Will you do me the honour of reading this letter?”

Taehyung takes the offered document and Mr. Park inclines his head. Taehyung watches him leave, and it feels like it might be the last time. He finds a place to sit, a tree stump, and opens it. It is a long letter, and Taehyung wastes no time in learning its contents, hoping it might bring him some sort of closure. The slightly messy penmanship on the pages reveal the urgency of the writer.

_To Mr. Kim Taehyung,_

_Be not alarmed, Sir, on receiving this letter, that it contain any repetition of those sentiments, or renewal of those offers which were, yesterday, so disgusting to you, but I must be allowed to defend myself against the charges laid at my door. In particular, those relating to Miss Kang, which, if true, would, indeed, be grievous; but are wholly without foundation, and which I can only refute by laying before you her connection with my family._

_Miss Kang is the daughter_ _of a very respectable man who had the management of our family estates, and my own father was fond of him, and held him in high esteem. We played together as children. After her father’s early death, my father supported her at school, and afterwards, at Cambridge, and hoped she would make the church her profession. But, by then, Kang Seulgi’s habits were as dissolute as her manners were engaging._

_My own excellent father died five years ago, and his attachment to Miss Kang was, to the last, so steady that he desired that a valuable family living might be hers as soon as it was vacant. Miss Kang declined any interest in the church as a career, but requested, and was granted, the sum of 3,000 pounds instead of the living. She expressed an intention of studying the law. I wished, rather than believed, her to be sincere._

_All connection between us seemed, now, dissolved. Being free from all restraint, her life became one of idleness and dissipation. How she lived, I know not, but last summer our paths crossed again under the most painful circumstances, which I, myself, would wish to forget. My sister, Sooyoung, was left to the guardianship of Colonel Lee and myself. About a year ago, she was taken from school to Ramsgate. And, thither also went Miss Kang, undoubtedly by design._

_She was persuaded to believe herself in love, and to consent to an elopement. She was then but fifteen years old. A day or two before the intended elopement, I joined them unexpectedly. Unable to support the idea of grieving a brother, whom she looked up to, she acknowledged the whole plan to me at once. You may imagine what I felt, and how I acted. Miss Kang left the place immediately._

_Miss Kang relinquished her object, which was, of course, my sister’s fortune of £30,000. A secondary motive must have been to revenge herself on me. Had she succeeded, her revenge would have been complete, indeed._

_This, Sir, is a faithful narrative of all my dealings with Miss Kang. And for its truth, I can appeal to the testimony of Colonel Lee, who knows every particular of these transactions. I know not under what form of falsehood Miss Kang imposed herself on you, but I hope you will acquit me of cruelty towards her._

_The other charge levelled at me is that, regardless of the sentiments of either party, I detached Mr. Jung from your brother. I have no wish to deny this, nor can I blame myself for any of my actions in this matter. I had not long been in Hertfordshire before I saw that Hoseok admired your brother, but it was not until the dance at Netherfield that I suspected a serious attachment._

_His partiality was clear, but, though Mr. Kim received his attentions with pleasure, I did not detect any symptoms of peculiar regard. The serenity of your brother’s countenance convinced me that his heart was not likely to be easily touched. I did not believe him to be indifferent because I wished it: I believed it on impartial conviction. As to my objections to the marriage, the situation of your family, though objectionable, was nothing in comparison with the total want of propriety so frequently betrayed by your mother and your younger sisters._ _My friend left Netherfield for London the following day. There I engaged in the office of pointing out to him the certain evils of his choice of your brother as a prospective husband. It was not difficult to convince him of your brother’s indifference to him. Thus I cannot blame myself for having done much._

_There is but one part of my conduct in the affair on which I do not reflect with satisfaction. That is, that I concealed from him Mr. Kim’s being in town. Perhaps this concealment was beneath me. It is done, however, and it was done for the best. On this subject, I have nothing more to say, and no other apology to offer._

_Yours,_

_Park Jimin._

Taehyung is fuming by the end. How dare he presume to know Seokjin’s inclinations or lack thereof? What a truly insufferable, hateful man. He marches more than he walks back to the parsonage, giving a physical outlet to the emotions plaguing him. 

There is much to consider. The revelations about Miss Kang’s behaviour are most shocking, but Taehyung is inclined to believe the accusations since they are backed by colonel Lee. Neither can he be fair in his blaming Mr. Park for pointing out his own family’s impropriety, as something Taehyung has oft deplored himself. As for the rest, Mr. Park remains the obstacle to Seokjin’s happiness, and as such cannot hope to ever have Taehyung return his affections. 

“You have missed the two gentlemen,” Sir Jeon calls out from where he is seated in the garden as the younger man storms into the house. Taehyung would normally join him, but he is not presently in the mood for small talk. “They came to take their leave!”

“Mr. Park came here?”

“Yes, but he went away again directly,” Sir Jeon confirms. “The colonel waited for you for over half an hour! And now they are both gone out of the county!”

“I daresay we shall be able to bear the deprivation,” Taehyung mutters under his breath. 

Unfortunately that isn’t the last he hears talk of Mr. Park before he too leaves Kent and the events of the past month behind. 

“They were such fine young men,” affirms Lady Sunmi as they visit her one last time a few days later, “and so particularly attached to me. They were excessively sorry to go, but so they always are. The dear Colonel rallied his spirits tolerably, but Jimin seemed to feel it most acutely. His attachment to Rosings certainly increases,” she muses, before commenting that Taehyung seems ‘very dull’ that evening. She indulges in answering her own question, sparing Taehyung the trouble, and declares it must be because of his imminent return to Hertfordshire. Taehyung nods obligingly. 

The last few days pass exceedingly slowly, and Taehyung spends most of them by Jeongguk’s side. He already knows he will miss him very much, once he is back at Longbourn, but suspects Jeongguk will miss him more, considering the company he will likely have to put up with for the rest of his life. They share a long embrace outside the house, as the servants are securing Taehyung’s belongings on the carriage. Taehyung promises to come visit again soon and his friend smiles widely at that. 

“Well, cousin, you have seen for yourself now the happiness of our situation,” says Mr. Pent, approaching Taehyung when Jeongguk goes to bids farewell to his father. “Our intimacy at Rosings is a blessing of which few could boast.”

“Indeed, they could not,” Taehyung answers. 

“Indeed,” the clergyman repeats. “And now you have witnessed our felicity, perhaps you may think that your friend has made a very fortunate alliance. Perhaps more so than…” he pauses, thus making his implication clear, and brings a finger to his lips in a gesture that he probably intends to be generous. “But on this point, it will be as well to be silent.”

“You are very good,” Taehyung says kindly, though it is near comical to think that he would ever regret such an offer as Mr. Pent’s, after having received and refused one from a man of considerably greater fortune and allure not a week ago. 

“Only let me assure you that I can, from my heart,” his cousin goes on nonetheless, “most cordially wish you equal felicity in marriage. My dear Jeongguk and I have but one mind and one way of thinking. We seem to have been designed for each other.”

He makes a small, ridiculous-looking wave to his husband, which Jeongguk doesn’t even notice, wrapped up as he is in his goodbyes to his father. The two were most certainly not designed for one another, but Taehyung will admit Jeongguk seems content with his choice. And, however flawed Mr. Pent may be, at least he strives to be kind, which is more than can be said for the likes of one Park Jimin. 

o o o

“Mr. Park proposed?” Seokjin practically shouts. Taehyung laughs at his reaction and makes a shushing motion, not wanting to alert other members of their family. “I can scarcely believe it,” his brother continues, voice toned down. “Not that anyone’s admiring you should be astonishing.”

Taehyung smiles at the praise, and snuggles under the covers of Seokjin’s bed. He is glad to be home, but most of all he is happy to see his beloved brother again. 

“But he always seems so sever. So cold, apparently,” Seokjin says, still shocked. “And yet he was in love with you all the time. Poor Mr. Park.”

Taehyung frowns. Typical Seokjin, whose heart is always too prompt to forgive and forget. 

“I confess, I cannot feel so much compassion for him. He will have other feelings, which will soon drive away any regard he felt for me.” Taehyung looks up at his brother, wanting to rid himself of a doubt. “You do not blame me for refusing him, do you?”

“Blame you? Oh, no.”

“But you do blame me for speaking so warmly of officer Kang?

“No,” Seokjin declares firmly. “How could you have known about her vicious character? If, indeed, she was so very bad. But I cannot believe Mr. Park would fabricate such a dreadful slander, involving his own sister, too. No, it must be true. Perhaps there has been some terrible mistake.”

“No, Seokjin, that won’t do,” Taehyung laughs. “You’ll never be able to make them both good. There is just enough merit between them to make one good sort of man. And, for my part, I am inclined to believe it’s all Mr. Park’s.”

Seokjin sighs, looking positively broken-hearted. “But, Taehyungie, I’m sure when you first read that letter, you could not have made so light of it as you do now.”

“Indeed, I could not. I was very uncomfortable. And I had no Seokjin to comfort me. Oh, how I wanted you,” he admits, draping himself over his brother’s frame and reveling in the feeling of strong arms holding him close. He pulls back, expression serious. “There is one point on which I want your advice. Should our general acquaintance be informed of Miss Kang’s true character?”

Seokjin tilts his head, considering. “Surely there can be no occasion to expose her so cruelly. What is your own opinion?”

“That it ought not to be attempted,” Taehyung says decisively. “Mr. Park has not authorized me to make it public. Especially as regards his sister. And, for the rest, who would believe it? The general prejudice against Mr. Park is so violent, and officer Kang will soon be gone. I believe we should say nothing about it at present.”

Dahyun and Yerim have been whining to their brother about how the regiment is to leave Meryton since his arrival earlier that afternoon, and how their father will not let them go to Brighton also. A wise decision, Taehyung believes, for those two can’t be trusted to behave themselves without close supervision. 

“Yes, I agree. Perhaps she is sorry now for what she has done, and is anxious to re-establish her character in the world. We must not make her desperate.”

Taehyung smiles fondly. “Oh, Seokjin-ah, I wish I could think so well of people as you do.”

On the way back from Kent, Taehyung had resolved not to tell Seokjin of Mr. Park’s hand in separating Mr. Jung from him. It would spare him more pain, he thought, but he very nearly changes his mind after a few days back by his brother’s side. That short time is enough for him to notice that Seokjin isn’t quite himself anymore, though he is obviously putting a considerable amount of effort into his acting. 

“You are not happy, Seokjin,” Taehyung observes and reports sincerely. “It pains me to see it.”

Seokjin puts down the book he was reading, leaving a finger between the pages to mark his progress, and sighs softly. 

“It is just that I did… I’m afraid I still do prefer Mr. Jung to any other person I’ve ever met. And Taehyungie, I did believe he…” he looks into the distance, reminiscing for an instant, and then waves his hand as if the simple gesture could dismiss his thoughts. “Well, I was mistaken. That is all. I’m resolved to think of him no more. There. Enough. I shall be myself again, as if I had never set eyes on him.”

He smiles then, and Taehyung will admit that while the likeness to his happier self is striking, it is definitely not perfect enough to convince him. Taehyung gets up, having finished writing his letter to Jeongguk and looking for a servant who’ll add it to their household’s outgoing post. He runs into his mother in the corridor, once his task is accomplished. He hides his hands behind his back so that she won’t scold him for having stained them with ink, as she usually does. 

“Well, Taehyungie, what do you think now about this sad business of Seokjin’s? He saw anything of Jung Hoseok in London. Well… he’s a very undeserving young man. And I don’t suppose there’s the least chance of your brother getting him now. If he should come back to Netherfield, though…” she lets the rest of her sentence unsaid, but her air is menacing enough for her meaning to be understood. 

“I think there’s little chance of that, Mamma,” Taehyung says sadly. 

“Oh, well, just as he chooses. No one wants him to come,” she exclaims boldly, in that thoughtless manner that she seems to favour greatly. “Oh, I shall always say he used my son extremely ill. Well, my comfort is Seokjin will die of a broken heart, and then he’ll be sorry for what he’s done. So, the Pents live quite comfortably, do they?” she continues, veering completely off-topic and not expecting any answer. She and Lady Lee Sunmi are alike in that particular aspect. “Well, I only hope it will last. And I suppose they talk about having this house, too, when your father is dead. They look on it as quite their own, I daresay.”

“They could hardly discuss such a subject in front of me, Mamma,” Taehyung tells her, her ridiculous accusations making him smile in spite of himself. 

“Well, I make no doubt they talk about it constantly when they’re alone. Well, if they can be easy with an estate that is not lawfully their own, so much the better. I should be ashamed of having one that was only entailed upon me.”

A lie if Taehyung has ever heard one, for sure, thinking back to the countless times he has had to listen to her lament about their lack of rich, imminently dying relations. 

“Mamma!” Yerim cries out as she barrels into the house, clutching a letter in her hand. Dahyun follows soon after, out of breath. “Mamma! Taehyungie! Guess what?! You never will, so I’ll tell you,” she says helpfully. “Mrs. Min, the colonel’s wife, has invited me to go with her to Brighton.”

Mrs. Kim lets out an “Oh!”, looking as delighted as if the invitation had been issued to her personally and clutching her hands to her chest in unadulterated joy. “Yerim, I am so happy! Oh, what an honour to be so singled out!”

Ensues five good minutes of bickering, Dahyun claiming that Mrs. Min should have invited her since she is the eldest, to which Yerim replies that it is only natural she should go since they both know she is Mrs. Min’s favourite. Taehyung brings a swift end to their precocious celebrations. 

“Yerim, before you crow too loud over your sister, remember Papa has not given you permission to go, and nor is he likely to,” he warns. 

“But Papa won’t stop me going. Not when I’ve been specially invited by the colonel of the regiment to be his wife’s particular companion.” Both women giggle at that, and shoo Taehyung away for raining on their parade. “Oh, Mamma, I shall have to be bought new clothes, for I’ve nothing fit to wear, and there will be balls and parties every night.”

“Well, of course you shall have new things,” he hears his mother reply eagerly. “We wouldn’t see you disgraced in front of all the officers.”

“Oh, all the officers,” Taehyung hears Yerim repeat dreamily as he drifts down the corridor. 

o o o

Taehyung is knocking on the door to his father’s study not a half hour later, demanding an explanation to his consenting to Yerim departure. Mr. Kim had explicitly asked not to be disturbed, as he usually does when in his refuge, but Taehyung hopes he’ll let him get away with his disregard for the rule since they all know he is his father’s favourite amongst his children. 

“Look, I understand your concern, my dear,” says his father, not in the least angered, as Taehyung predicted. “But consider… Yerim will never be easy until she has exposed herself in some public place, and here is an opportunity for her to do so, at very little expense or inconvenience to her family.”

“If you were aware, father, of the very great disadvantage to us all, which must arise from Yerim’s unguarded and imprudent manner, which has already arisen from it,” he adds as an afterthought, “I’m sure you would judge differently.”

Mr. Kim takes off his reading spectacles, peering up at his son intently. 

“Already arisen? Well, has she frightened away some of your lovers?” Taehyung looks down, embarrassed, as he recalls Mr. Park’s stinging words. “Now, don’t be cast down, Taehyung, such squeamish youths are not worth your regret. Oh, come, Taehyung-ah.”

Squeamish youths would hardly be the first expression that comes to mind when describing Park Jimin, Taehyung thinks. 

“Indeed, you are mistaken. I have no injuries to resent,” he lies. “I speak of general, not particular, evils. Our… position as a family, indeed our very respectability, is called into question by Yerim’s wild behaviour. Excuse me, I must speak plainly. Her character will be fixed as the most determined flirt that ever made herself and her family ridiculous. Don’t you see that she will be censured and despised wherever she is known? And that she will involve her siblings in her own disgrace?”

Mr. Kim isn’t convinced, obviously believing that his son is overreacting. Perhaps it is true, but he can hardly be blamed after recently hearing the tale of Park Sooyoung’s narrowly-missed elopement. One must not make the mistake of underestimating the importance of conforming to the norm in order to be accepted into polite society. 

“Don’t make yourself uneasy, my love,” Taehyung’s father comforts, gesturing for him to come closer. “Wherever you and Seokjin are known, you must be respected and valued. And you will not appear to any less advantage for having a couple of very silly sisters.”

Taehyung sighs, accepting defeat.

“We shall have no peace at Longbourn if Yerim does not go to Brighton,” Mr. Kim justifies himself, “and Colonel Min is a sensible man. Luckily, she’s too poor to be an object of prey to a fortune hunter. I believe all will turn out well.”

A meager source of comfort is one nonetheless, Taehyung supposes. Maybe he really is worrying too much after all. Maybe being away from her family, who love and protect her perhaps too much, will help her grow from a girl into a woman. Maybe Mr. Kim is right in his decision to let her go. 

The Kims meet colonel Min the next day as they attend a social gathering at Jeon lodge, and he does strike Taehyung as a man of honour and intelligence. 

“We are so desolated, Colonel, that the regiment is to leave Meryton,” Mrs. Kim tells him. “But words cannot express what we feel about your kindness to our dear Yerim.”

“Well, Ma’am, it appears that my wife cannot do without her.”

Indeed, the two women are playing cards with three officers across from them, apparently having the time of their life. 

“Look at the pair of them,” the Colonel points out. “Thick as thieves. Lord knows what they find to talk about, but anything to keep them happy. What do you say, Seulgi?” he asks, addressing the newcomer in their small circle.

“Well, I say amen to that, sir,” she replies with a smile. Taehyung had been dreading meeting her again, but their reunion can be put off no further when his mother and colonel Min leave to join the card players. “How did you find Rosings?”” officer Kang asks once they are alone. 

“Very interesting,” Taehyung replies agreeably, even though he now views the woman in an entirely different light. Gone is the inclination he thought he felt for her, for sure. “Colonel Lee was there with Mr. Park. Are you at all acquainted with the colonel?”

“I, erm… to some respects, yes, in former years.” Well of course, they must have met at Ramsgate, since Sooyoung is under colonel Lee’s charge as well as her brother’s. “Very gentlemanly man. How did you like him?”

“I liked him very much, indeed.”

“His manners are very different from his cousin’s,” officer Kang comments. 

“Yes. But I think Mr. Park improves on closer acquaintance.” 

“Indeed? In what respect?” she questions, looking ever-so-slightly alarmed. And for good reason, Taehyung thinks snidely. “Has he acquired a touch of civility in his address? For I dare not hope he has improved in essentials.”

“No. In essentials, I believe he is very much as he ever was,” Taehyung concedes easily. “I don’t mean to imply that either his mind or his manners are changed for the better. Rather, my knowing him better improved my opinion of him.”

“I see,” officer Kang says, frowning. 

Their conversation is cut short by Taehyung’s companion being called to be the fourth player in a game of bridge. So much the better, in Taehyung’s opinion. He sips his tea and hopes with all his heart that their paths will not cross again. 

Yerim is gone for Brighton a week later, leaving the house unusually quiet save for Dahyun continuously wailing about the unfairness of it all. As their father said, with the sarcastic tongue that characterises him best, as they watched Yerim’s carriage become a speck on the horizon: “Well, never mind, Dahyun. I daresay, in a year or two, you’ll have got over it tolerably well.”

o o o

In July, their aunt and uncle, whom Seokjin spent the winter with in their house in London, come to Longbourn with their four children. They don’t stay long, though, since the plan is for Taehyung to accompany them for a summer tour of the country. Taehyung has been looking forward to it for some time now, needing a change of scenery. 

“We bear you bad tidings, not too grievous, though, I hope,” Aunt Yongsun warns and amends as soon as the usual round of greetings is over. 

“The guilt is mine,” uncle Namjoon explains. “My business won’t allow me time away to visit all the lake country. We shall have to content ourselves with Derbyshire.”

“Oh,” replies Taehyung, reassured to know that their journey hasn’t been cancelled altogether without his prior knowledge. “But Derbyshire has many beauties, has it not?”

“Indeed, to me, Derbyshire is the best of all counties,” his aunt says confidently. 

“Nature and culture in harmony, you will see, Taehyung-ah. Wildness and artifice, and all in the one perfect county,” completes her husband. 

“Well, I was born and grew up there, so I should never disagree with that,” Mrs. Kim says with a smile. 

“Where, exactly?” enquires Taehyung. 

“At Lambton, a little town of no consequence to anyone, except those fortunate enough to have lived in it. I think it the dearest place in the world.”

“Then I shall not be happy till I have seen it,” her nephew declares, earning himself a fond smile. 

“It has one further claim on your interest: it is but five miles from Pemberley, and owes much of its prosperity to that great estate,” she continues. 

“So near?” says Taehyung, surprised. 

Aunt Yongsun nods. “Not that I, or any of my acquaintance, enjoyed the privilege of intimacy with that family. We moved in very different circles.”

Taehyung heaves a sigh of relief, for he does know that family. Or more accurately, one member in particular, the very owner of the Pemberley estate: Park Jimin. 

Derbyshire is beautiful, truly. Taehyung is stunned by its quiet majesty, and enjoys spending time with his aunt and uncle there, though of course he misses Seokjin. They travel around the county, visiting landmarks and the most beautiful pieces of nature Taehyung has ever seen. Bare hills where the wind howls and whispers secrets into his ear as he climbs around strange rock formations, green land that stretches to meet the grey sky on the horizon. 

“I think I should be quite happy to stay my whole life in Derbyshire,” Taehyung tells them contentedly one evening as they are sharing a meal. They have just settled for the week in Lambton, which is indeed a very charming village. 

“I’m happy to hear it,” aunt Yongsun says with a delighted smile. “Now, what do you say to visiting Pemberley tomorrow? It’s not directly in our way, but no more than a mile or two out of it.”

Taehyung chews his ham nonchalantly. “Do you especially wish to see it, Aunt?”

“I should have thought you would, having heard so much about it. And the associations are not all unpleasant. Miss Kang passed all her youth there, you know.”

Ah yes, but the superficial spell she’d woven around Taehyung’s heart was broken. His relatives don’t know that though, as Taehyung couldn’t think of a reason convincing enough to explain his sudden change of heart other than the truth of her objectionable behaviour. He would be curious to see the place Mr. Park loved so much, however - not that he’d ever admit it out loud. 

“We have no business there,” he reasons. “I should feel awkward to visit the place without a proper invitation.”

“No more than Blenheim or Chatsworth. There was no awkwardness there.”

His uncle is right, it isn’t uncommon to visit these beautiful homes when the family is away for the season. Still, it is a whole other matter when one is personally acquainted with the very owner. Wouldn’t it violate some implicit code of discretion and privacy? 

“I shouldn’t care for it myself, Taehyung-ah,” Aunt Yongsun declares, “if it were merely a fine house, richly furnished. But the grounds are delightful! They have some of the finest woods in the country.”

“And not more than five miles away,” her husband adds. 

Taehyung resumes his chewing, considering. “Is the family here for the summer?”

Both his aunt and uncle shake their heads enthusiastically, making their nephew smile brightly. 

“Perhaps we might visit Pemberley after all,” he finally accepts. 

They set off right after breakfast the next morning, and the phaeton takes them past enough forests and groves to quench even Taehyung’s appetite for them. The ride is pleasant and the weather fine, so he doesn’t complain. 

“I confess, I had no idea Pemberley was such a great estate. Shall we reach the house itself before dark, do you think?” he jokes. 

“Be patient, dear,” his aunt scolds light-heartedly. They make a turn, and she smiles widely, looking into the distance. “There.”

Slowly, the house comes into sight, no longer hidden by a row of ancient trees. It is grand - perhaps not as big as Rosings but definitely more refined, and has a romantic air to it with the artificial lake that stretches lazily in front of it. Taehyung smiles, positively enchanted with the view. 

“I think one would be willing to put up with a good deal to be master of Pemberley,” comments uncle Namjoon. 

“The master of Pemberley will have to put up with a good deal, from what I hear,” his wife answers, referring to the Kims’ first impression of Mr. Park that had no doubt been recounted to them by Seokjin during his stay in town. Taehyung’s opinion has since changed, but again, he can’t exactly say so, not if he is to comply with the decision of keeping Miss Kang’s questionable manners secret. “He or she is not likely to be anyone we know.”

Taehyung continues to stare at Pemberley. He doesn’t trust himself to take part in the conversation, not when a simple yes is all that stood between him and an alternative future where he’d be the person they are currently gossiping about. 

“How do you like the house, Taehyungie?”

“Very well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place so happily situated,” he muses. “I like it very well, indeed.”

“Pity then its owner should be such a proud and disagreeable man,” says uncle Namjoon. 

Taehyung can’t help but chuckle at that. “Yes, a great pity.”

“Perhaps the beauty of the house renders its owner a little less repulsive?” 

Perhaps it does, Taehyung muses. 

The housekeeper takes them around the house, as is customary, and the inside is truly just as beautiful as the outside seems to promise. Taehyung is completely and utterly taken with the place. 

“This piano has just arrived,” the housekeeper tells them as she shows them into the main drawing room. “It’s a present from my master for Miss Sooyoung.”

An instrument so fine that the Kims would never dream of affording it, Taehyung notes with a discrete sigh. 

“Your master is away from home, we understand,” his uncle says. 

“Yes, but we expect him here tomorrow, sir.” Oh. Good thing they decided to visit sooner rather than later, or they could have had an uncomfortable encounter with him. “He is coming with a large party of friends. And Miss Sooyoung,” the woman adds as she points to a painting on the opposite wall. “This portrait was painted earlier this year for her sixteenth birthday.”

“Ah! She is a very handsome young lady,” declares Taehyung’s aunt. 

“Oh, yes! The handsomest young lady that ever was seen. And so accomplished. She plays and sings all day long, and does nothing but bring joy to all around her!”

“Taehyung-ah! Look at this picture!” exclaims Aunt Yongsun, peering down into a glass case. “It reminds me very much of someone we know.” 

The housekeeper walks over to her, and Taehyung follows. 

“This one, Ma’am?” enquires the housekeeper, pointing at a painted medallion. “That young woman was the daughter of the late Mr. Park’s steward, Mr. Kang. She is gone into the army now, but she’s turned out very wild. Very wild, indeed, I’m afraid. And that’s my master,” she adds, the frown on her face disappearing as she shows them another medallion. “And very like him, too.”

“It is a handsome face, but I’ve never seen the original,” Taehyung’s aunt says regretfully. “Is it like him, Taehyung-ah?”

“Oh! Does this young man know the master?”

“Yes, a little,” Taehyung acquiesces, fighting a blush off his face. Why on earth is he blushing? 

“He is a handsome gentleman, is he not?” asks the housekeeper. 

“Yes, very handsome,” Taehyung agrees easily, for Mr. Park’s attractiveness isn’t something he ever found himself denying, even when he still thought the worst of him. 

The woman nods, satisfied with Taehyung’s answer. “I’m sure I know none so handsome. Nor so kind: I’ve never had a cross word from him in my life. And I’ve known him since he was four years old, and he has grown into a man just as excellent as his father. Ask any of his tenants or his servants. Some people call him proud, but I fancy that’s only because he doesn't rattle away like other young people do. Now, if you will follow me, there’s a finer, larger portrait of him in the gallery upstairs. This way, sir, if you please.” 

Uncle Namjoon follows her, but his wife stops her nephew from going after them with a gentle hand to his elbow. She looks thoughtful and confused, if perhaps also a tad amused. 

“This fine account of Park Jimin is not quite consistent with his behaviour to poor officer Kang,” she says once they are certain that the housekeeper is out of earshot. 

“Perhaps we might have been deceived there,” Taehyung admits quietly. 

o o o

An hour later, Taehyung is walking along the lake, fraying himself a path among the trees and humming a low tune to himself. His uncle and aunt are still conversing with the housekeeper, leaving Taehyung free to explore the grounds around the house to his heart’s content. There is a rustle in a nearby tree, and that’s all the warning he gets before he sees Park Jimin emerge from behind the canopy, holding a horse by the bridle. 

He continues walking, visibly too lost in thought to spot Taehyung a few yards away from him. It gives Taehyung enough time to register that Mr. Park is soaking wet, as if he just decided to take a plunge in the lake after his ride, but not enough to think about hiding. Suddenly Mr. Park stops, eyes opening wide. Well, too late now. 

“Mr. Kim,” he starts, “I…” 

“I did not expect to see you, sir,” Taehyung explains quickly, uncomfortable and distracted by how… utterly wet the other man looks. “We understood all the family were from home, or we should never have presumed…”

Mr. Park stares back at him, and Taehyung squashes the urge to squirm under his gaze. 

“I, uh, I returned a day early.” He shakes himself a little, droplets falling free from his blond locks. “Excuse me, your parents are in good health?”

It feels surrealistic, to be talking to him given how they left each other in Kent, especially under such unexpected circumstances. Taehyung should get a grip on himself, but all his mind seems to process is how the - white, wet and see-through - fabric of Mr. Park’s shirt lovingly clings to his sculpted chest. 

“Yes. They are very well. I thank you, sir,” he finally manages. 

“I’m glad to hear it. How long have you been in this part of the country?”

“But two days, sir,” Taehyung informs. “We’re staying at the inn at Lambton.”

“Oh, yes, of course. Well, I’m… I’m just arrived myself.” Mr. Park scratches the back of his neck, obviously embarrassed himself. “And your parents are in good health? An… And all your siblings?”

Taehyung smiles softly at the other man’s maladresse. “Yes. They are all in excellent health, sir.”

Mr. Park looks at the house across from them, bows and excuses himself, trailing his horse behind him. Uncle Namjoon and Aunt Yongsun join him not three minutes later, and Taehyung just stands there, frozen. 

“The man himself, I presume,” his uncle prods gently. 

“And just as handsome as in his portrait,” says Aunt Yongsun. “Though, perhaps, a little less formally attired.”

Taehyung raises his arms dramatically, starting to walk back to their coach. “We must leave here at once.”

His aunt looks puzzled, but takes his mood change in stride. “Why, of course, if you wish.”

“Oh, I wish we’d never come.,” Taehyung laments. “What must he think of me?” And more importantly, why does he suddenly care? 

The three of them walk back at a brisk pace. They are in the courtyard, just about to get into the carriage, when Mr. Park rushes in, dressed in dry clothes and buttoning up the front of his jacket as he looks around for them. 

“Mr. Kim!” he calls out as he makes his way to Taehyung. “Please allow me to apologize for not receiving you properly just now. You are not leaving?”

“We were, sir,” replies Taehyung. “I think we must.”

Mr. Park frowns, looking at Taehyung in that piercing manner of his. “I hope you’re not displeased with Pemberley,” he says quietly. 

“No, not at all.”

“Then you approve of it?” the owner asks, smiling. 

“Very much,” Taehyung admits in a breath. “But I think there are few who would not approve.”

“But your good opinion is rarely bestowed and, therefore, more worth the earning,” Mr. Park replies kindly, before glancing over at where Taehyung’s uncle and aunt are conspicuously deep in conversation, no doubt to allow the younger men to have a little privacy. “Would you do me the honour of introducing me to your companions?”

“Certainly.” Taehyung leads him over to them. “Mr. and Mrs. Kim Namjoon, Mr. Park. Mr. Kim is my uncle, Mr. Park. My brother Seokjin stayed at their house in Cheapside when he was lately in London.”

Mr. Park bows. “Delighted to make your acquaintance, Madam, sir. You’re staying in Lambton, I hear.”

“Yes, sir,” replies Aunt Yongsun. “I grew up there as a girl.”

“Delightful village. I remember running from Pemberley to Lambton as a boy almost every day in the horse chestnut season. There was one very fine tree there, I remember.”

“On the green, by the smithy,” completes Taehyung’s aunt, smiling widely. 

“The very one,” Mr. Park confirms, smiling again. Taehyung doesn’t think he’s ever seen him smile quite so much. “Mr. Kim, do you care for fishing?”

“Indeed, I do, sir, when I get the chance of it.” 

“If you have time, sir, you must come and fish in my trout stream. In fact, let us walk down there now,” he offers as the thought occurs to him. 

Taehyung is surprised to see him so engaging, talking to his uncle about the species that live in his lake, the best spots and other things that would not interest Taehyung in the least but seem to be making a positive impression on his uncle. 

He and his aunt follow the two men, arm in arm. 

“Is this the proud Park Jimin you told us of?” she asks. “He is all ease and friendliness, no false dignity at all.”

“I’m as astonished as you are. I can’t imagine what has affected this transformation.”

There is a twinkle in Aunt Yongsun’s eyes as she says, “Can you not?”

She takes her husband’s arm when they join him down by the lake, leaving Taehyung to pair up with Mr. Park as they walk down a path he suggested. They stay silent for a while, until both start speaking at the same time. 

“Pray, continue,” says Mr. Park as they fall silent again. 

“I was going to say again, sir, how very unexpected your arrival was. If we had known you were to be here, we should not have dreamt of invading your privacy. The housekeeper assured us you would not be here until tomorrow,” Taehyung feels the need to explain. 

“I beg you, do not make yourself uneasy. I had planned it so myself, but I found I had business with my steward, and so rode on ahead of the rest of the party without informing anyone. They will join me tomorrow; and among them are Mr. Jung and his sister, whom you are acquainted with.”

They look at each other for a second, and Taehyung isn’t sure if that time is too long or too short anymore.

“Oh,” is all he manages to say. It feels like he hasn’t seen the Jungs in so long, but then again that was to be expected once they left Netherfield. 

“There’s another person in the party who, more particularly, wishes to know you,” Mr. Park continues, looking unsure for the first time since Taehyung was introduced to him all that time ago in the ballroom at Jeon lodge. “Will you allow me to… Do I ask too much to introduce my sister to you during your stay at Lambton?”

Taehyung smiles widely. “I should be very happy to make her acquaintance.”

“Thank you. Then we shall meet again very soon, I hope,” Mr. Park states. 

Taehyung would like to get better acquainted with this new version of Park Jimin. He also finds himself hoping they’ll meet again soon, when he and his aunt and uncle finally leave Pemberley. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hesitate to leave kudos and comments! I'd love to know what you think of this au and the characters so far :)


	5. London

The day after their visit to Pemberley, a servant at the inn informs Taehyung that there are two gentlemen and a lady waiting upon him in the parlour. Taehyung hastily takes his hat and gloves off, eager to join them. 

Mr. Park stands as soon as he comes in, looking as dashing as ever in a dark green coat. There is a pretty young girl looking out of the window, who turns to look at him. She looks a little shy, so Taehyung smiles at her. 

“Mr. Park,” he says. “I hope that you have not been waiting long.”

“Not at all. May I introduce my sister Sooyoung?” he gestures to the only lady, who comes closer. “Sooyoung, this is Mr. Kim Taehyung.” 

“How do you do?” she says as she curtsies with all the grace Taehyung would have expected from Mr. Park’s sister. 

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Miss Park,” Taehyung replies earnestly. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“And I about you,” she says with a pretty smile. 

“Mr. Jung is here with us,” Mr. Park tells Taehyung, sounding somewhat amused, “and very desirous to see you as well. He insisted on accompanying us. May I summon him?”

“Of course! I should like to see him very much.” 

He bows and leaves Taehyung to his new acquaintance. 

“I understand that you are fond of music, and play very well,” Taehyung says conversationally. 

“Oh, no, not play very well. I mean… But I am very fond of music,” she corrects modestly. Her voice is sweet as honey - like her brother’s, Taehyung catches himself noticing. “I should dearly love to hear you play and sing. My brother has told me he has rarely heard anything that gave him more pleasure.”

“Well, you shall,” Taehyung promises, amused, “but I warn you, your brother has grossly exaggerated my talents. No doubt for some mischievous reason of his own.”

She looks slightly shocked at his remark, making Taehyung instantly regret his wording, though it had no malicious intent. He meant it as nothing more than a playful jab whose purpose is to amuse his audience. 

“Oh, no. That could not be so,” she declares very seriously. “My brother never exaggerates. He always tells the absolute truth. Except that sometimes I think he is a little too kind to me,” she admits fondly. 

“An ideal elder brother, then.”

“Oh, yes. I could not imagine a better or a kinder one.”

“You make me feel quite envious. I doubt my own sisters would ever speak so highly of me,” Taehyung jokes.

“Mr. Kim!” comes a familiar voice as the door opens. “I can’t tell you how delighted I was when Jimin told me you were not five miles from Pemberley. How do you do? You seem well.”

“Very well, indeed, thank you,” Taehyung confirms, somewhat endeared, as Mr. Jung continues to beam at him. Surely there is no man in the country closer to personifying a ray of sun than Jung Hoseok. 

“Good, good. Excellent,” he says. Taehyung can see he is making an effort to sound nonchalant, but the way he crosses and uncrosses his fingers in front of him gives him away. “And your family?”

“Very well, sir.”

“Pray, tell me, are all your siblings still at Longbourn?”

“All except one,” Taehyung answers. “My youngest sister is at Brighton.”

“Ah.” He must be disappointed not to have any news of Seokjin, but Taehyung doesn’t really see what he can reveal unless he is asked directly. Offering the information himself would make him appear to be matchmaking, though he is certain Mr. Jung would be grateful regardless. “It seems too long… It is too long since I had the pleasure of speaking to you.”

“It must be several months,” Taehyung agrees. Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees Sooyoung whispering something into her brother’s ear, which makes the elder break out into an indulgent smile as he nods. 

“It is above eight months at least. We have not met since the 26th of November, when we were dancing together at Netherfield.” 

The tips of his ears turn red, no doubt because feeling he revealed too much. There is no need for such embarrassment, at least not where Taehyung is concerned, for nothing could make him happier than having confirmation that Seokjin isn’t the only one who’s not-so-secretly been keeping count.

“I think you must be right,” Taehyung chuckles. 

“Do you know, I don’t think I can remember a happier time than those short months I spent in Hertfordshire.”

“Mr. Kim,” Mr. Park interrupts them gently, “my sister has a request to make of you.”

Sooyoung steps closer and clears her throat. “Mr. Kim, my brother and I would be honoured if you and your aunt and uncle would be our guests at Pemberley for dinner. Would tomorrow evening be convenient?”

Taehyung smiles happily, already liking her a lot. He can’t believe officer Kang had the gall to describe her in an unflattering light, especially considering the harm she did the younger girl. 

“Thank you. We shall be delighted,” he replies. “I can answer for Mr. and Mrs. Kim, we have no fixed engagements.”

“And shall we hear you play?” Sooyoung enquires, insisting adorably. The way she innocently bashes her eyelashes at him to get what she wants sends a pang to his heart, reminding him of how much he misses Dahyun and Yerim - though of course he’d never admit that. 

“If you insist upon it, yes, you shall,” he gives in easily. 

And so, the following evening, Taehyung finds himself singing a popular song and playing along on the instrument that they so greatly admired when he and his aunt and uncle visited Pemberley. Sooyoung sits next to him, ready to turn the pages of his score, while the rest of their party are comfortably settled on the couches. Miss Jung is just as Taehyung remembers, and as such looks mildly irritated at his admittedly limited musical proficiency. Everyone else puts up with it just fine, and clap politely after he is finished. 

“Absolutely marvellous,” Mr. Jung declares, grinning widely. 

Taehyung makes a move to get up from the stool, but Sooyoung stops him. 

“Will you not play again? You played that song so beautifully.”

“Oh, not very beautifully,” Taehyung laughs. “Not faithfully at all. You must have seen how I fudged or slurred my way through the difficult passages. It is a beautiful instrument though,” he comments. 

“Isn’t it? It is a gift from Jimin. He is so good. I don’t deserve it.”

“Oh, I’m sure you do,” Taehyung assures her, smiling. “Your brother thinks you do, and, as you know, he is never wrong.”

Taehyung glances over at Mr. Park, and finds him already watching them. 

“Now, it is your turn,” says Taehyung as he gets up. “I absolutely insist.”

She looks a little hesitant, undoubtedly not used to playing in front of this many people, but obliges nonetheless. She plays the beginning of the piece wonderfully, and, once he is certain she’s gained enough confidence, Taehyung allows himself to drift back towards the rest of the party. 

“Pray, Mr. Kim, are the militia still quartered at Meryton?” enquires Miss Jung with a knowing smile that bodes nothing good. 

“No, they are encamped at Brighton for the summer.”

“That must be a great loss for your family,” she remarks, as if their leaving signified the end of the partner-hunting season for the likes of Taehyung - of gentle birth and modest fortune. 

“We are enduring it as best we can, Miss Jung,” he replies as politely as he can, hoping for a swift end to that particular conversation. But of course, his wish isn’t granted. 

“I should have thought one officer’s absence might have caused particular pangs,” she insists with a devious twist in her well-practised smile. 

“I can’t imagine who you mean,” Taehyung says stubbornly. 

“I understood that certain people found the society of Miss Kang curiously agreeable.”

Sooyoung messes up her notes at the familiar name, alerting the whole room to her distress. The mention of Miss Kang must bring back painful memories, Taehyung realises. She winces at the sudden attention, and Taehyung rushes back by her side. 

“I’m so sorry, Miss Park, I’m neglecting you. How can you play with no one to turn the pages? There. Allow me.”

She shoots him a grateful look and resumes playing. Taehyung sees tension leave Mr. Park’s frame as his sister relaxes herself. Their gazes cross, and Mr. Park looks somewhat enraptured, for lack of a better word. As for Taehyung, well, he can’t look away. 

o o o

Jimin sips on his brandy, watching the coach carrying Mr. Kim and his relatives disappear into the darkness. Sooyoung excused herself, tired. Jimin forgets just how young she is, sometimes, and worries she has matured too fast. However much he and Taemin try, they will never be able to give her what his parents could have, had they not died prematurely. This is a constant source of worry for him, and one brought to the forefront of his mind by Miss Jung’s oblivious re-opening of old wounds after dinner. 

“How very ill Kim Taehyung looked this evening. I’ve never, in my life, seen anyone so much altered as he is since the winter.” Oh, here we go again, thinks Jimin. Wheein can be a charming young woman when she deems it necessary, of course, but Jimin so wished she’d rid herself of her foolish misconceptions and obvious haughtiness. “He’s grown so brown and coarse. I was just thinking I should hardly recognise him. What do you say, Mr. Park?”

“I noticed no great difference. He is, I suppose, a little tanned. Hardly surprising when one travels in the summer,” Jimin answers evenly. 

Wheein humms. “For my part, I must confess, I never saw any beauty in his face. His features are not at all handsome. His complexion has no brilliancy.” There must be something seriously wrong with her eyesight, for her to say that, muses Jimin as he takes another sip of his drink and goes to sit beside Hoseok. “And as for his eyes, which I have sometimes heard called ‘fine,’ I could never perceive anything extraordinary in them. And in his air altogether there’s a self-sufficiency without fashion, which I find intolerable.” 

“I think… um…” tries Hoseok. Bless him, he could never impose himself in his sister’s overwhelming presence. 

“I remember, when we first knew him in Hertfordshire,” she goes on, “how amazed we all were to find him a reputed beauty there. I particularly recall you, Mr. Park, saying, ‘he a beauty? I should as soon call his mother a wit.’” She pauses to laugh, hiding her mouth behind dainty fingers that have not known one day of work. “Oh, but afterwards, he seemed to improve on you. I even believe you thought him rather pretty at one time.” 

Jimin finally looks at her. “Yes, I did,” he says sternly. “That was only when I first knew him. For it has been many months now that I have considered him one of the handsomest men of my acquaintance.” 

Wheein’s mouth hangs open in shock while Hoseok displays a vaguely proud expression on his face. She forgets her dainty manners, this time, Jimin notes with a certain amount of satisfaction. 

o o o

The next morning, Taehyung receives two letters from Seokjin, one having been misdirected - no wonder, considering how badly the address was scribbled. Uncle Namjoon and Aunt Yongsun leave him at the inn to catch up on his correspondence and go for a short walk around the village instead. Taehyung wastes no time in opening the one that was sent first. 

_My dearest Taehyungie,_

_I hope your journey has been as delightful as you anticipated. We all miss you, our father most of all, I believe. I confess, I’ve hardly had time to write. Our young cousins have commandeered almost every moment, but they are such dear children. Our mother, indeed, finds their exuberance a little trying for her nerves._

_Oh, dearest Taehyung, since writing the above something has occurred of a most unexpected and serious nature. But I’m afraid of alarming you. Be assured, we are all well. What I have to say relates to poor Yerim._

_An express came at twelve last night, just as we were all gone to bed. The letter was from Colonel Min to inform us that Yerim was gone off to Scotland, to elope, with one of his officers. To own the truth, with Kang Seulgi. You will imagine our surprise and shock._

_I am very, very sorry. So imprudent a match on both sides. But I am willing to hope the best, and that this officer’s character has been misunderstood. Her choice is disinterested, at least. She must know that our father can give her nothing. We expect them soon, returned from Gretna Green, as wives. But I must conclude. I cannot be away from our poor mother long. I shall write again as soon as I have news._

_Yours, always,_

_S._

Taehyung wipes away his teary eyes and sits on the first chair he finds when he fears his legs will give him beneath. Oh, this is most shocking news. And hard to believe, too: is it possible that Miss Kang is truly, sincerely in love with his sister? Or is this some new trickery she has fallen victim to? Poor, naive Yerim. Taehyung tears open the other letter with shaking fingers. 

_Taehyung-ah,_

_I hardly know what to write, but I have bad news. Imprudent as a marriage would be, we now fear worse – that it has not taken place. That Miss Kang never intended to marry Yerim at all. I cannot think so ill of her! Colonel Min said he feared that officer Kang was not to be trusted. They were traced as far as Clapham, and to London our father has gone with Colonel Min to try to discover them._

_Dearest Taehyungie, I cannot help but beg you all to come here as soon as possible._

_Your Seokjin._

Of course, they must make their way back to Longbourn at once. This is exactly what Taehyung feared, and he can’t help but blame himself for not having warned his father of Miss Kang’s true nature, nor of the events involving Mr. Park’s sister in the past. 

As if summoned, Mr. Park is announced by a servant and steps into the room. “Mr. Kim, I hope this -” he starts after bowing. 

“I beg your pardon,” Taehyung interrupts, still considerably shaken. “I must find my uncle this moment on business that cannot be delayed. I have not an instant to lose.”

“Good God, what is the matter?” Mr. Park says, sounding concerned. Taehyung sniffles sadly in response. “Of course, I will not detain you for a moment, but let me go, or let the servant go and fetch Mr. and Mrs. Kim. You are not well, you cannot go yourself.”

“No, I must,” Taehyung insists weakly. Mr. Park pays him no mind, calling in a servant to have her fetch them at once. Task accomplished, he takes Taehyung by the arm and sits him down, crouching a little himself to be level with his eyes. 

“You are not well,” he declares worriedly, taking Taehyung’s hand in his smaller one. “May I not call a doctor?”

“No. I am well. I am well,” he repeats, as if the words could erase the tears of shock rolling down his cheeks. 

“A… glass of wine? Can I get you one? Truly, you look very ill.” 

“No, I thank you. There is nothing the matter with me. I am quite well. I am only distressed by some dreadful news, which I have just received from Longbourn,” he admits in a sob. Taehyung hides his face behind his hands, trying to regain composure. “I’m sorry, forgive me,” he says when he thinks he’s obtained as much success as could be expected from him in such dire circumstances. 

“No,” Mr. Park whispers comfortingly, rubbing his arm with concern and perhaps a touch of tenderness. 

“I’ve just received a letter from Seokijn… such dreadful news. It cannot be concealed from anyone. My youngest sister has eloped. Has thrown herself into the power of Miss Kang. They have run away together from Brighton. You know him too well to doubt the rest.”

Mr. Park shivers, understanding all too well. 

“She has no money, no connections. Nothing that can tempt a woman like her. When I think that I might have prevented it. I, who knew what she was. Had her character been known, this could not have happened… But it is all too late now.” 

Mr. Park stands up abruptly, walks a few steps, back turned to the distressed man. 

“I am grieved indeed. Grieved, shocked,” he finally says. “But is it certain, absolutely certain?”

“Oh, yes,” Taehyung confirms regretfully, dabbing at his eyes with the monogrammed handkerchief that the other man had handed him. “They left Brighton together on Sunday night. There were traced as far as London, but not beyond. They are certainly not gone to Scotland.”

“And what has been done? What has been attempted to recover her?”

“My father has gone to London, and Seokjin writes to beg my uncle’s immediate assistance. I hope that we shall leave within half an hour. But what can be done? How are they even to be discovered? I have not the smallest hope. Yerim’s honour is lost forever, and our whole family must partake of her ruin and disgrace.”

Mr. Park looks back at him, seeming distressed himself for a split second at Taehyung's desperate ramble. “I am afraid you have long been desiring my absence,” he says. “This unfortunate affair will, I fear, prevent my sister’s having the pleasure of seeing you at Pemberley today.”

It seems trivial to think of now, how Taehyung had been hoping to make a friend of Sooyoung. “Oh, yes. Be so kind as to apologize for us to Miss Park. Say that urgent business calls us home immediately. And if you would be so kind as to conceal the unhappy truth as long as possible. I know that it cannot be long.”

“You may be assured of my secrecy. But I have stayed too long. I shall leave you now,” he states as he picks up his hat. 

Taehyung stands to bow. “Yes. Thank you. Goodbye.” 

Mr. Park gives him one last look before closing the door behind him, leaving Taehyung free to give into the anxious demons clawing at his soul. 

“I shall never see him again,” Taehyung whispers to no one in particular, tone resigned. For who would associate with the family of a girl who has publicly disgraced herself by giving herself to another outside of the sacred bond of marriage? Mr. Park’s cold behaviour as soon as Taehyung admitted the truth of the situation was proof enough, an avant-goût of what is to come once the story becomes public. 

Fortunately Mr. and Mrs. Kim come in before their nephew has been completely consumed by his gloomy thoughts. 

“Even if what you say of Kang Seulgi is true, I still cannot believe this of Yerim,” says Aunt Yongsun after reading both letter and listening to Taehyung’s account of the officer’s past offence. 

“Ever since the militia were quartered at Meryton, there has been nothing but love, flirtation, and officers in her head!” Taehyung bursts out, frustrated at himself for not having foreseen this. 

“You must not assume the worst,” she admonishes him. “It may be that this is all a misunderstanding, or just a passing folly that her friends can hush up, and will in time be quite forgotten.”

Taehyung shakes his head sadly, but his uncle won’t have it. Seokjin must surely get his ever-lasting optimism from them. 

“Indeed, it is,” he states. “Why would any young woman form a design against a girl who’s by no means unprotected or friendless? And who’s actually staying in the colonel’s family? Look at it any way you like, the temptation is not worth the risk.” 

They get onto the carriage, which was prepared while Taehyung caught them both up on these recent events. 

“Not, perhaps, a risk in her own interest,” Taehyung says, referring to the officer, “but I do believe her capable of risking everything else.” His foolish and naive sister’s honour, for instance, comes to mind. 

o o o

They arrive at Longbourn in the late afternoon. Uncle Namjoon and Aunt Yongsun are greeted enthusiastically by their children as Taehyung makes his way into the house. 

“Oh, Taehyungie. I am so glad to see you,” says Seokjin as they fall into each other’s arms. 

“Has anything been heard?” Taehyung asks without breaking their embrace. 

“No, not yet, but now our uncle is come, I hope everything will be well. Our father left for town on Tuesday. And we’ve heard from him only once since then to tell us he has arrived in safety. Mamma has been asking for you every five minutes since daybreak.”

“How is she?” he enquires. 

“She has not yet left her room,” Seokjin informs him. 

“And you look pale. Oh, Seokjin, how much you must have gone through,” Taehyung laments compassionately, removing his coat and handing it to a maid. 

They hurry to their mother’s room, uncle Namjoon in tow. She is still in her nightgown, fanning herself dramatically with her handkerchief. Dahyun is beside her, and Taehyung kisses her forehead affectionately as his mother starts complaining. 

“Oh! Oh, Taehyungie! Oh, brother…” Uncle Namjoon takes her hand, sitting beside her. “We are all ruined forever. I blame those Mins,” she accuses animatedly. “I am sure there was some great neglect on their part, for she is not the kind of girl to do that sort of thing if she had been properly looked after.”

“Mamma,” Taehyung says, rolling his eyes, for they all know that is exactly the kind of girl Yerim is. Sweet and careless, wanting nothing more than to be loved and admired by those around her and driven by the pursuit of amusement above all other value their father has tried to teach them. 

“And now here is Mr. Kim gone away,” she continues, wailing about her husband’s absence. “And I know he will fight Miss Kang, and then he will be killed. And then what is to become of us all? Those Pents will turn us out before he is cold in his grave. And if you are not kind to us, brother, I don’t know what we shall do!” 

“Sister, calm down,” Taehyung’s uncle says. His patience is truly angelic. “Nothing dreadful will happen. I shall be in London tomorrow morning, and there we will consult as to what is best to be done.”

She sits up straighter. “Yes! Yes, that is it! You must find them out, and if they be not married you must make them marry. But, above all, keep Mr. Kim from fighting.”

“Mamma, I’m sure he does not mean to get involved in a duel,” Seokjin interjects tiredly, as if it were the tenth time that day that he has had to say it. 

“Oh, yes! Yes, he does! And officer Kang will kill him for sure unless you can prevent it, brother. You must tell him what a dreadful state I’m in. And how I have such tremblings and flutterings all over me. Such spasms in my side, and pains in my head, and beatings at my heart that I can get no rest either night or day. And tell Yerim not to give any directions about wedding clothes till she has seen me. For she does not know which are the best warehouses, as I do.”

She breaks into dramatic sobbing at that, and Taehyung really thinks she should work on reviewing the order of her priorities. Surely her daughter missing should be a source of more distress than the idea of her wearing a wedding dress that was not made by the finest dressmaker in London, or the irrational fear of her husband getting caught up in a duel straight out of the plot of some romance novel she really should be prevented from reading if it induces such ridiculous thoughts. 

Once everyone else has turned in for the night, tired by the day’s events, Taehyung slips into his brother’s room. He finds Seokjin sitting by the window, staring out into the darkness instead of reading the book open on his lap. 

“Now, Seokjin-ah, tell me everything about it that I’ve not already heard. What did Colonel Min say? Had they no apprehension about anything before the elopement took place?”

Seokjin sighs, scooting along to make space for his brother. 

“Colonel Min did own he suspected some partiality on Yerim’s side, but nothing to give him any alarm. Taehyung-ah, I feel I am to blame, for it was I who urged you not to make officer Kang’s bad conduct known. And now poor Yerim is suffering for it. No one else suspected him for a moment. I am… I am to blame.” 

His head hangs low, ashamed. Taehyung lifts it with a gentle but firm hand to his chin, forcing him to make eye contact. “You are not to blame. No more than I, or Mr. Park, or anyone else deceived by Miss Kang. You have nothing to blame yourself for. Others are culpable, not you.”

Seokjin takes out what looks like a handwritten note, hidden in the pages of his book. 

“She wrote this for Mrs. Min before she went away.”

Taehyung scans its contents quickly. It was definitely written by his younger sister, her wording unmistakable. 

_My dear Jihyo, you will laugh when you know where I am gone, and I cannot help laughing myself at your surprise tomorrow morning as soon as I am missed. I am going to Gretna Green, and if you cannot guess with whom then I shall think you a simpleton. For there is but one person in the world I love. Don’t send them word at Longbourn of my going. It will make the surprise all the greater when I write to them and sign my name Kang Yerim. What a good joke it will be! I can scarce write for laughing. Yours, Kim Yerim - though not for much longer!_

“Thoughtless, thoughtless Yerim,” exclaims Taehyung. “What a letter to have written at such a moment. But at least it shows she believed Miss Kang’s purpose was marriage, whatever she might have been persuaded to afterwards. Our poor father... How he must have felt it.”

“I never saw anyone so shocked,” Seokjin admits. “He could not speak a word for fully ten minutes. Our mother was taken ill with the hysterics and the whole house was in confusion. Lady Jeon has been very kind, offering her services.”

“She had better had stayed home,” Taehyung says angrily. “Assistance is impossible and condolence insufferable. Let her triumph over us at a distance and be satisfied.”

“Taehyung, that is unkind. I’m sure she meant well.”

“Yes, perhaps she did. I am sorry. It’s just that I can’t help but be… Oh, Seokjin, do you not see that more things have been ruined by this business than Yerim’s reputation?” 

Seokjin furrows his eyebrows, and Taehyung regrets having said anything. There is no point dwelling on what they will lose until it is done.

“You meant, I suppose, that you and… and Dahyun… have been tainted by association, that our chances of making a good marriage have been materially damaged by Yerim’s disgrace.”

Seokjin’s as well, Taehyung doesn’t add. Instead, he pats his brother’s hand reassuringly, mustering an encouraging smile on his face. 

“The chances of any of us making a good marriage were never very great, now I should say they are non-existent,” Taehyung says, keeping his tone casual. “No one will solicit our society after this. Mr. Park made that very clear to me.”

Seokjin looks up at that, mildly alarmed. “Mr. Park? Does he know of our troubles?”

Taehyung nods slowly. “He happened upon me a moment after I first read your letter. He was very kind, very gentleman-like, but he made it very clear he wanted nothing more than to be out of my sight. He will not be renewing his addresses to me.” For some reason, saying that aloud makes Taehyung want to fight back imaginary tears. “He will make very sure his friend does not renew his to you.”

“I never expected Mr. Jung would renew his addresses, Taehyungie,” Seokjin dismisses with an unconvincing chuckle, as if the very thought were utterly ridiculous. “I am quite reconciled to that. But surely you do not desire Mr. Park’s attentions, do you? 

“No, no. I never sought them,” Taehyung states truthfully. He doesn’t know what he thinks of Park Jimin anymore, but it doesn’t matter since he no longer has a reason to wonder. 

“But you do think he was intending to renew them? You think he is still in love with you?”

“I don’t know,” Taehyung admits, hiding behind his hands as he does when his emotions get the best of him. “I don’t know what he was two days ago. All I know is that now, he… or any other respectable gentleman or woman will want nothing to do with any of us.”

Seokjin pulls him into a warm embrace, but doesn’t reply. It’s answer enough. 

o o o

“Oh, Lord,” sighs Dahyun as she observes the carriage that has just arrived at Longbourn. “Look who’s coming.”

“Who is it, Dahyun?” asks Seokjin, no doubt hoping it might be their father. 

“Mr. Pent, of course. Well, I’m not going to sit with him for anyone,” their sister declares as she heads out into the garden in order to escape their unexpected guest. 

And so the two elder Kim siblings find themselves receiving Mr. Pent, at a time when he is more unwelcome than ever. 

“I had hoped to condole with your poor father and your mother,” he says after being shown into the drawing room.

“Our father is still in London, sir, and our mother is not yet well enough to leave her room,” Seokjin informs him with a polite smile. 

“Ah.” He stands, clears his throat and Taehyung braces himself for the sermon that is surely about to come. “I feel myself called on, not only by our relationship, but by my situation as a clergyman to condole with you all on the grievous affliction you are now suffering under. Be assured that Jungkook and I sincerely sympathize with you in your present distress, which must be of the bitterest kind, since it proceeds from a cause which no time can remove. The death of your sister would have been a blessing in comparison.”

Taehyung really is in no mood to put up with ther cousin’s nonsense, whether he came for it all the way from Kent or not, but Seokjin stops him from interrupting the man with a warning hand clutching his arm. Oblivious, Mr. Pent goes on. 

“And it is more to be lamented, because there is reason to suppose, my dear Jeongguk informs me, that this licentiousness of behaviour in your sister has proceeded from a faulty degree of indulgence. Though I am inclined to think that her disposition must be naturally bad. Now, howsoever that may be, you are grievously to be pitied. 

“We are very grateful, sir, for your -” Seokjin tries tensely, only to be stopped by a silencing hand from Mr. Pent. 

“In which opinion I am joined by Lady Lee Sunmi and her daughter to whom I have related the affair in full.” Oh, dear god. Has the man no sense of decency, to be making their disgrace public when it is obvious the matter should be kept private for as long as possible instead? “They agree with me in apprehending that this false step in one sister must be injurious to the fortunes of all her siblings. For who, as Lady Sunmi herself condescendingly says, will connect themselves with such a family?” 

Taehyung stands up quickly, grabbing the opportunity that has presented itself enthusiastically. “Who, indeed, sir? And now, perhaps, in view of that consideration, you may feel that it would be unwise for you to stay any longer now.”

Mr. Pent tilts his head in consideration. “Well, perhaps you are right,” he finally declares. “Yes, perhaps you are right, Cousin Taehyung.” 

“I always feel that a clergyman cannot be too careful. Especially one so fortunate as to enjoy the condescension and the patronage of Lady Lee Sunmi,” he completes, appealing to Mr. Pent’s simple pleasures in life. 

Their cousin looks back at him, a hint of admiration in his voice as he says, “Your thoughtfulness does you credit, Cousin Taehyung. I am very, very sorry for you all.”

They walk him back to his carriage and wave him off back to Kent. 

“Insufferable man,” Taehyung grits out as soon as he is out of sight. 

“I suppose he means well,” Seokjin says generously. Perhaps, but Taehyung does not appreciate the tale of their misfortunes being spread across the country, for others to congratulate themselves on their own better circumstances. 

A letter comes during the week, informing them that their father is to come back to Longbourn while their uncle Namjoon continues to search for the couple on his own, in the backstreets of the capital. Their father looks exhausted, when he arrives a couple of days later. 

“Say nothing of that. Who should suffer but myself?” he answers when Taehyung remarks on it. “It has been my own doing, and I ought to feel it.”

“Oh, Papa,” comforts Seokjin, “you must not be so severe upon yourself.”

“No, Seokjin, let me, for once in my life, feel how much I have been to blame. I am not afraid of being overpowered by the impression. It will pass away soon enough.”

They all sit in silence, for a while, with only the scratching of Taehyung’s quill on the letter he is writing to Jeongguk to interrupt it. He wants to thank him for the kind words of support he received from him the day before, in stark comparison to his husband’s hurting ones. Not that it comes as a surprise to Taehyung, given Jungkook’s naturally forgiving disposition. 

“Do you still suppose them to be in London, sir?” he finally asks. 

“Yes. Where else can they be so well concealed?” He stands and puts a paternal hand on his son’s shoulder. “Taehyung-ah, I bear you no ill will for being justified in your advice to me in May, which, considering the event, shows some greatness of mind, I think.”

Taehyung gives him a weak smile, somewhat relieved though he is by no means pleased to have been proven right. “I must take Mamma her tea,” he says. 

“She still keeps her state above stairs, does she?” Mr. Kim asks rhetorically, sadly amused. “Ha, good. It lends such an elegance to our misfortune. Another time, I’ll do the same. I’ll sit in my library, in my nightcap and powdering gown, and I’ll give as much trouble as I can. Perhaps I may defer it till Dahyun runs away.”

“I’m not going to run away, Papa,” the girl in question answers. “If I should go to Brighton I would behave better than Yerim.”

“You go to Brighton? I wouldn’t trust you as near it as Eastbourne. No, Dahyunnie, I have at last learnt to be cautious, and you will feel the effects of it,” he tells her, tone bearing no contradictions. “No officer is ever again to enter my house, or even to pass through the village. Balls will be absolutely prohibited, and you are never to stir out of doors until you can prove you’ve spent ten minutes of every day in a rational manner.”

Dahyunnie looks heartbroken, taking her father’s meaning all too literally. Though maybe he really does mean it, considering how shaken he is by Yerim’s disappearance. 

“Well, well, don’t make yourself unhappy, my dear,” he comforts her with an awkward pat on her shoulder. “If you’re a good girl for the next ten years, I’ll take you to a military review at the end of them.”

Dahyun starts wailing as Taehyung bursts out laughing. He can’t help being a little hysteric, the events of the past couple of weeks having left him too raw to be able to filter his emotions anymore. 

o o o

“Master Taehyung…” a servant says, hesitantly, as he and Seokjin are picking some flowers for their mother’s bedroom, hoping it might cheer her up a little - and ease her endless complaints for a few minutes, with any luck. A week has come and gone since their father has come back to Longbourn, and there’s been no news since, whether it be good or bad. 

“Yes, Sojung, what is it? Is Mrs. Kim asking for one of us?”

“Oh, no. I beg your pardon, but… did you know an express came for master from London? About half an hour ago, master.” 

Seokjin thanks her while Taehyung is already running towards their father, who is pacing beneath a nearby tree. 

“Papa… What news?” Taehyung asks. “What news have you heard from my uncle?”

“Yes, yes, I’ve had a letter from him,” replies Mr. Kim, tone somehow detached and preoccupied all at once. 

“What does…. What news does it bring – good or bad?”

Taehyung’s father shrugs noncommittally. “What is there of good to be expected? Perhaps you would like to read it yourself.” He hands the letter to Taehyung, and he and Seokjin sit close together on the bench to read it. “Read it aloud, Taehyungie. I hardly know what to make of it myself.”

Taehyung acquiesces. “‘My dear brother, at last I am able to send tidings of my niece and officer Kang. I have seen them both.’”

“It is as I always hoped!” Seokjin exclaims happily. “They are married!”

“‘They are not married,’” Taehyung denies, smile fading, as he reads on. “‘Nor can I find there was any intention of being so, but if you are willing to perform the engagements I have ventured to make on your side, I hope it will not be long before they are.’ What engagements?” Taehyung asks, addressing their father. 

“Read on,” he instructs. 

“‘All that is required of you is to assure your daughter her equal share of the fortune she will inherit on your death, and also allow her during your life the sum of a hundred pounds per annum.’” Taehyung looks up to his father, surprised. “So little? I cannot believe it.”

“Read on,” Mr. Kim repeats, waving his hand, still pacing. 

Taehyung obliges. “‘We have judged it best that my niece should be married from this house, of which I hope you will approve.’” 

“Oh, poor Dahyun will be disappointed not to be a bridesmaid,” sighs Seokjin, ever compassionate. 

“‘Send back your answer as soon as you can, and be sure to write explicitly as to the financial settlement. Yours, et cetera.’ How can it be possible she will marry her for so little?”

“She must not be undeserving as we thought,” says Seokjin, smiling. “She must truly be in love with her, I think.”

“Have you answered the letter?” asks Taehyung. 

“No, but I must, and soon. They must marry, there is nothing else to be done. But there are two things I very much want to know. One is, how much money your uncle laid down to bring this about. And the other… how am I ever to repay him?”

Now Taehyung understands the source of his preoccupation. Still, it’s a relief to know that their sister’s honour might be preserved, after all the trouble she went through to tarnish it, as well as that of her entire family. In fact, he feels quite giddy with the feeling for a few hours, but it is soon replaced by other concerns. 

“I wish I had never spoken a word of this whole affair to Mr. Park,” he sighs as he waits for his hair to dry by the fire burning in the chimney of Seokjin’s room. 

“Taehyungie, please do not distress yourself,” his brother tells him, putting an arm around the younger’s shoulders. “I’m sure that Mr. Park will respect your confidence.”

“I’m sure he will. That is not what distresses me,” Taehyung admits. 

“What then?”

“I don’t know,” he answers honestly, frustrated with his own behaviour. “How he must be congratulating himself on his escape. How he must despise me now.”

Seokjin smiles, understanding. “But, Taehyung-ah, you never sought his love, nor welcomed it when he offered it. If he has withdrawn his high opinion of you now, why should you care?”

“I don’t know. I can’t explain it. I know I shall probably never see him again,” he reasons. “And yet I cannot bear to think that he is alive in the world… and thinking ill of me.” 

“Oh, Taehyungie.” 

Taehyung walks to the window and looks up to the stars, falling prey to thoughts of Park Jimin. Sometime after his return from Kent, his feelings for the man had changed. In fact, Taehyung can’t even remember what he used to reproach the gentleman, for he can think of none more honourable, nor attentive, after having met him again at Pemberley. 

He slips a hand into his pocket and finds comfort in finding there the soft fabric of a handkerchief that bears the initials PJM. He hadn’t meant to take it away from its owner, of course - his mind entirely elsewhere at the time - but now he is glad for this involuntary keepsake. In the likely event of their paths not crossing again, it is good to have something to remember him by. 

In the dead of a sleepless night, as he is alone in his room, Taehyung brings the handkerchief to his mouth and nose, and wonders whether the faintly musky scent on it is Park Jimin’s or simply a figment of his imagination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gretna Green is a village just past the scottish border, reputed because it allowed minors to be married without their parents' agreement. I guess in that sense you could say it was the Vegas of English aristocracy. 
> 
> Just one chapter to go now!


	6. Meryton

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally... I hope this doesn't disappoint! 
> 
> Also just as a reminder, I do not claim to have written most of this. About 95% of the dialogues are from the 1995 BBC P&P miniseries. In that sense, this is more of a transcription project than a proper fic, because vmin deserve it ;)

“Oh, I knew it would all come out right in the end. Oh, my dear, dear Yerim. She will be married! I knew how it would be,” Mrs Kim affirms - or rather lies - through her fit of giggles at the happy news. “I knew he would manage everything. Oh, but the clothes! And, of course, she must be married at Longbourn. This is all nonsense about her being married from Cheapside. She must be married in Longbourn church where all her friends can see her.”

“No, Mamma, that is not possible,” Taehyung repeats patiently. “You must see that.”

“I do not see that!” she protests. “Why should I see that? Why should that be?”

“Because she has been living with Miss Kang in London. And if she were to arrive home unmarried still -” 

“Oh, well. I suppose it must be, if you put it like that, but it is all very vexing,” she says, glaring at her son as if it were his fault. “And your uncle has been most high-handed. I don’t see why he should take so much upon him.”

“Mamma, we are greatly indebted to Uncle Namjoon,” Seokjin tells her, taking over Taehyung’s impossible task of reasoning her. 

“He must have laid out a great deal of money to pay off Miss Kang’s debts – more than we can ever repay,” Taehyung completes. 

“And why should he not? Who else should lay out money but her own uncle?” she asks, tone indignant. 

“Mother!” Taehyung cuts her. 

“Oh, well, I am so happy. A daughter married, and only just sixteen! Mrs. Kang... Ooh, how well that sounds. Oh, but the wedding clothes! Taehyungie, my dear, go down to your father and ask how much he will give her.”

A daughter married at sixteen isn’t cause for celebration in Taehyung’s book, but he can’t be a spoilsport everytime. Wise people should choose their battles, and as someone who aspires to someday become one, Taehyung graciously leaves the room - not to ask his father about anything as trivial as Yerim’s wedding dress allowance but to enquire about any eventual news from town. 

Mr. Kim tells him about a letter he received just an hour ago, informing him that officer Kang is to go to a regiment in Newcastle, where they will travel after the wedding, unless of course they are invited to Longbourn beforehand. 

“Oh, yes, my dear Mr. Kim, of course they must come here,” declares Taheyung’s mother when she hears the news. “I long to see my dear Yerim. And dear officer Kang, too, of course. But if they are to leave Brighton, they should come to Hertfordshire and reside in the neighbourhood. Haye Park might do, if the Ahns would quit it. Or the great house at Stoke, if the drawing rooms were larger,” she enumerates, completely disregarding the fact that residing in these houses is neither a wish nor a financial possibility for the young couple.

“Or Purvis Lodge,” Dahyun says unhelpfully. 

“Oh, no, dear, not Purvis Lodge,” says Mrs. Kim, accompanying her words with an expression of disgust. “The attics there are dreadful.”

“Mrs. Kim,” interjects her husband, “before you take any, or all of these houses, let us come to a right understanding. Into one house in the neighbourhood they shall never have admittance: the Kangs will never be welcome to Longbourn.”

Not two weeks later, Yerim and her wife are back at Longbourn, because Taehyung’s father will always give into his own wife’s tantrums if it means a temporary respite from her otherwise continuous hysterics. For his part, Taehyung will be glad to see Yerim again, and he suspects his father secretly will be too. 

“Lord! It seems an age since we were at Longbourn. And here you all are, just the same,” Yerim comments, laughing hard enough as she descends from the carriage to miss the last step. 

“Oh, my dear, dear Yerim… Oh, how we’ve missed you!” exclaims their mother, tears shining in her eyes. 

“Oh, we’ve been far too merry to miss any of you,” Yerim declares, taking officer Kang’s arm, who has yet to say a word. “Haven’t I caught myself a handsome wife?”

“Indeed, you have, my love,” Mrs. Kim beams proudly. “You are very welcome, Mrs. Kang. Well, shall we go in?”

Their parents walk through the door, arm in arm, and Seokjin is about to follow them. Yerim stops him with a hand to his arm. 

“No, Seokjin. I take your place now. You must go lower, because I am a married woman.” She chuckles, as if this is all just some incredibly comical joke, and continues walking. “‘Mrs. Kang.’ Lord! How droll that sounds. Oh, when I think I have done what none of my siblings have done...” 

Seokjin and Taehyung exchange a look. She hasn’t changed for the better, that much is certain. Well, at least she doesn’t seem in the least discontent with her current situation in life. 

The weather is fine on the next day, after days of overcast skies, so they decide to go for a walk across the countryside since Taehyung’s new sister-in-law apparently insists on exercising her horse. In truth, Taehyung suspects it has more to do with showing off her proud figure than her mounture’s well-being, but they agree to the outing nonetheless. They take a route that is neither too muddy nor too close to Netherfield, which they have been avoiding since Mr. Jung’s departure for the sake of Seokjin’s poor heart. 

“How do you like my wife, Taheyungie?” Yerim says as they watch the officer ride by them. “I believe you envy me. Was she not a favourite of yours once?”

“Not at all, I assure you.” It’s a lie, but maybe not so much considering how little Taehyung thinks of Kang Seulgi now. 

“What a pity we didn’t all go to Brighton,” she continues, not in the least discouraged by her brother’s coldness. “I could have got husbands and wives for all my siblings.” 

Taehyung snorts inelegantly, allowing himself that small pleasure since no one but his three siblings are there to witness it. “Thank you for my share of the favour, but I don’t particularly like your way of getting husbands and wives.”

“Isn’t she a fine horseman? I wished she could wear her red coat at the wedding and have a guard of honour with their sabres drawn, but the officers could not be spared from their duties. And in the end there was no one there but my aunt and uncle and Mr. Park,” she says, adding a pout for good measure.

Taehyung stops right in his tracks at the last name. “Mr. Park, you say? He was at your wedding?”

“Oh, yes. For someone had to come with Seulgi and bear witness to our union. I’d much rather it had been -” she gasps and brings a hand to her mouth. Taehyung is already lost in his thoughts, imagining a thousand scenarios that would explain why Mr. Park was at Kang Seulgi’s wedding with his sister. “Oh Lord, I forgot. I wasn’t to say a word. And I promised him so faithfully. What will Seulgi say now? It was supposed to be a secret,” she giggles, waving at her wife as she rides closer to the group again. 

As soon as they get back to Longbourn, Taehyung excuses himself, grabs some ink from his father’s study and writes to his aunt, to enquire about the circumstances that lead to Mr. Park standing in as Kang Seulgi’s witness, for he is certain there is no love to spare between the two of them. He waits impatiently for the answer, which comes three day later. 

_My dear nephew,_

_I must confess myself surprised by your letter. If you were indeed in ignorance of the part that Mr. Park played in bringing about the marriage, let me enlighten you at once. Mr. Park paid us an unexpected visit and so, my dear Taehyung-ah, Mr. Park would brook no opposition. He insisted on doing everything himself, and bearing the entirety of the expense. Nothing was to be done that he did not do himself, and your uncle, instead of being allowed to be of use to his niece, was forced to put up with having the credit of it. Mr. Park insisted the fault was his, and so must be the remedy._

_I think his exact words were: ‘It was through my mistaken pride, my reserve that Miss Kang’s character has not been made known to the world. Had I not thought it beneath me to lay my private actions open to the world, her character would have been exposed, and this elopement could never have taken place.’_

_Indeed, Mr. Park is the sole responsible for the happy outcome to the whole affair, though he was adamant that this ‘detail’ should be kept from your family._

_Yours,_

_Kim Yongsun._

Taehyung’s heart is fond and heavy by the time he finishes reading. He is sorry that Mr. Park felt responsible for a fault that Yerim and her wife bear, but this is exactly the sort of honourable behaviour Taehyung would have expected of him after getting better acquainted with him through conversing with his sister. It is no longer a mystery to him why Mr. Jung is a close friend of his, nor does Taehyung blame him for separating Seokjin from his potential suitor anymore. It is perfectly understandable that Seokjin’s sincere feelings could have been misinterpreted, in light of his reservedness and their mother’s damning words at the infamous ball which exposed her vulgar eagerness to see her children marry into fortune to all. It is regrettable, but what is done is done. 

At the same time as Taehyung’s feelings for Park Jimin finally become clear to him, he aches in the knowledge that he missed his chance at becoming his husband, and in such harsh words. He slips into Seokjin’s bed that night, as he sometimes did when they were small children, but refuses to give away the source of his melancholy. So his brother just holds him until he slips into a dreamless sleep. 

Time seems to go by especially slowly, after that. Taehyung pulls himself back together, in appearance, but nothing can erase the longing for a foregone future that lingers constantly in the back of his mind. The Kims go about their usual activities after Yerim and officer Kang have left, heading north, but Taehyung finds he cannot take the same pleasure in them as he once used to. He finally understands how Seokjin felt, all those months ago, when news broke that Mr. Jung had left Netherfield. The two brothers go for long walks in the countryside, sometimes dragging Dahyun along with them, though she would much rather go to Meryton to see what new fabrics are in the shops. 

About a month passes during which they are only occupied with their quiet daily life, before the Meryton society is once again abuzz with the news that a certain gentleman is to come back to Netherfield. Taehyung feels sure it is for good this time, and as such enquires after his brother’s feelings on the subject. 

“No, I do assure you, this news does not affect me. Truly, Taehyungie,” Seokjin says after his brother gives him a dubious look. “The only thing I dread are other people’s remarks, Taehyung-ah.” 

“Then I shall venture none, however sorely I am tempted,” Taehyung declares, teasing a little. “After all, it is hard that the poor man can’t come to a house he’s legally rented without raising all this speculation.”

“That is just what I think,” Seokjin says, air so serious and grave it makes Taehyung giggle in the most unmanly way, drawing a smile out of his brother. 

In truth, they both know that Seokjin is very eager to see Mr. Jung. He’s only trying to protect his poor heart from the threat of further heartbreak. Taehyung wouldn’t tease if he weren’t certain that this time his brother’s heart is in good hands. 

Their mother, as soon as the excitement concerning their neighbour’s arrival reaches her, finds reason to complain of the fact that Mr. Jung has not yet been to visit them. 

“Three days he has been in the neighbourhood, and still he shuns us,” she wails. “I say it’s all your father’s fault. He would not do his duty and call, so you shall all die old maids. We shall be turned out by the Pents to starve in the hedgerows.” 

Seokjin continues to play a sultry tune on the pianoforte, Taehyung bites his tongue to not reply that he shall die a proud elderly bachelor because men do not turn into old maids, and Dahyun looks out the window longingly, probably waiting for some form of amusement to materialise out of thin air. 

“You promised me last year that if I went to see him, he’d marry one of my children, and it all came to nothing,” Mr. Kim replies with the usual edge of humor to his voice. “And I won’t be sent on a fool’s errand again.”

Suddenly Dahyun lets out a small shout. “Mamma! Mamma, look! I think he is coming!” 

The two women crowd the window, which must be a comical sight from outside the manor. Taehyung stands on tiptoe to see over their heads, and sure enough, it seems two men on horseback are making their way over to Longbourn. 

“Is it really him? I believe it must be,” says their mother. “He has come, Seokjin! Run and put on your blue vest. No! No, stay where you are. There is no time.” 

Seokjin looks a little panicked, so Taehyung squeezes his hand in reassurance. 

“Who is that with him?” asks Dahyun. “It looks like that man who used to be with him before. Mr... Oh, what’s his name? You know, that short, proud one.”

Seokjin shoots Taehyung a look, and now Taehyung is experiencing the same internal panic as his brother. 

“Mr. Park, I believe it is,” states Mrs. Kim coldly. “Well, any friend of Mr. Jung’s will always be welcome here, to be sure. Else I must say that I hate the sight of him, but I’m determined to be civil. Oh, sit up straight, Seokjin. Pull your shoulders back. A man could go a long way without seeing a figure like yours, if you would only make the most of it. Oh!”

It is strange to hear her talk so indifferently of a man they owe so much to, but Taehyung supposes nothing can be done about it for now. Seokjin fixes his posture, and Taehyung copies him instinctively. The door opens and a servant announces the two gentlemen. 

“Mr. Jung, you are very, very welcome,” says their mother once everyone has bowed and curtsied. “It is far too long since you were here, and very, very kind of you to call. We began to be afraid you would never come back again.”

Taehyung can’t help but seek out Mr. Park’s gaze. He finds it fixed on him already, but looks down quickly, ashamed of his mother’s blatant failure to acknowledge his presence. 

“I heard you meant to quit the place entirely by Michaelmas,” Mrs. Kim continues, addressing their guest and finally sending Mr. Park a curt nod, “but I hope, however, that is not true. Ring the bell for tea, Dahyun.”

Dahyun gets up to obey her mother. There is an uncomfortable silence for a while, neither knowing quite what to say, but of course Mrs. Kim can be trusted to fill it. 

“A great many changes have taken place since you went away. Jeon Jeongguk is married and settled, and one of my own daughters. I expect you’ve heard of it. Indeed, you must have read it in the papers.”

“Yes, indeed, I -” starts Mr. Jung, smiling wide.

“And now they are gone into Newcastle,” she goes on, probably not even realising that she just interrupted him. 

“Do you mean to stay long in the neighbourhood on this visit?” enquires Taehyung. He curses himself for letting his voice shake a little, and hopes it is not noticeable. 

The gentlemen share a look. “Uh, our plans are not yet firmly settled, but I hope… I hope we shall stay some weeks,” Mr. Jung finally declares, sounding unsure himself. He looks in Seokjin’s direction, which he had been conspicuously avoiding until now. “I hope very much we shall stay a few weeks… at the very least.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Taehyung sees Seokjin smile at him warmly. The two men do not stay long, but the way Mr. Jung can’t resist glancing back at his brother as he steps out is assurance enough, to Taehyung, that his feelings for Seokjin are as strong as ever. 

“Now that this first meeting is over, I feel perfectly at ease,” declares Seokjin with a confidence he doesn’t have that evening as they are once again convening in the elder’s room. 

“Good,” Taehyung congratulates. 

“Now I know my own strength. And I shall never again be embarrassed by his coming. We shall be able to meet now as… as common and indifferent acquaintances.”

Taehyung can’t help but smile at the blatant lie. “Yes, very indifferent. Seokjin, take care,” he warns, smiling. 

“You don’t think me to be in any danger of falling in love now, Taehyungie.” 

Taehyung raises a challenging eyebrow at that, but he doesn’t say anything because he supposes it’s true enough, if one considers how Seokjin is already in love. “I think you are in very great danger of making him as much in love with you as ever,” he says wisely instead. 

o o o

“You tell me now that he was in London all that time and you concealed it from me?”

Jimin nods gravely, reaching over the breakfast table to reach for the toast. His mother would have scolded him and told him he should order a servant to approach it instead, but this time there is no one but Hoseok to witness him acting like that. And Hoseok is too distracted to notice, anyway. In fact, he is still staring at Jimin in disbelief. Not angry exactly, though Jimin certainly wouldn’t blame him, but definitely surprised. Sometimes Jimin wished his friend wouldn’t behave quite so kindly all the time, for it would make his own character flaws less obvious to his own eyes in comparison. 

“Yes,” he states plainly, wanting to be certain that his meaning can’t be misunderstood. “I can offer no justification. It was an arrogant presumption based on a failure to recognize your true feelings… and Mr. Kim’s. I should never have interfered. It was wrong of me, Hoseok, and I apologize.”

Hoseok raises his eyebrows higher than Jimin’s ever seen him do before, a common habit of his. “Do you admit that you were in the wrong?”

“Utterly and completely,” Jimin admits sincerely. Not something he particularly enjoys recognising, but it must be said. 

“Then… I have your blessing?” his friend asks nonchalantly, sipping his tea. 

“Do you need my blessing?” Jimin replies, now highly amused. 

“No. But I should like to know I have it, all the same.”

“Then you do.”

Hoseok smiles at him in that bright way of his, and waves a servant over. “Bring me my horse, at once!”

Jimin laughs. It is a shame he has business in London this afternoon, for he would have liked to stay at Netherfield and know the outcome of Hoseok’s visit to Longbourn. He definitely regrets the fact that it will deprive him of the pleasure of seeing Kim Taehyung until he has an excuse to visit Netherfield again. He stops laughing at the thought that said charming young man may feel relieved by his absence instead. 

o o o

The Kim house is put into considerable upheaval early that morning. Taehyung is just getting dressed when his mother starts shouting so loudly that she can probably be heard all the way from Meryton. 

“Seokjin, Seokjin! Oh, my dear Seokjin!”

“Mamma, what is the matter?” he hears his brother say. 

Taehyung goes into the corridor, curious as to the cause of such commotion. 

“He is come! He is come!”

“Who is come?” asks Taehyung. 

“Mr. Jung, of course! Make haste! Hurry down! Oh, gracious, you’re not half dressed!” 

She leaves as fast as she’d arrived. Taehyung watches in amusement as Seokjin, still in his nightgown, stays frozen for a few seconds, before rushing back into his room, slamming the door in his haste. Someone’s eager, Taehyung notes. 

But then maybe more than one person is eager for this visit, for it seems that now that he’s here Jung Hoseok cannot think of any explanation that might justify his unusually early call. They sit in the drawing room, all Kim siblings now dressed, and the silence stretches in a way that Taehyung would find uncomfortable if he weren’t already so amused with the whole situation. 

“So, Mr. Park has gone to town?” asks their mother, sounding a little too pleased to be considered polite. 

“Yes, Ma’am,” confirms Mr. Jung. “He left quite early this morning.” 

Silence follows his statement, no one knowing quite what to say. It seems there isn’t much to add, after having exchanged their news when he kindly called upon them just a few days prior. Taehyung pointedly looks away when he notices his mother winking at him, in a manner that is far from discrete. Thankfully Mr. Jung cannot see, being seated right beside her. 

Dahyun tilts her head, confused. “What’s the matter, Mamma? Why do you keep winking at me?” she enquires innocently. “What am I to do?”

Mrs. Kim rolls her eyes at her daughter’s impair, and immediately adopts an offended posture. 

“Wink at you? Why should I wink at you, child? What a notion. Why should I be winking at my own daughter, pray?” Poor Dahyun, who has always had a sensitive soul, looks about to cry. Her mother lousily pretends to be just now remembering something, putting a finger to her chin for extra emphasis. “But, now you ask, it puts me in mind. I do have something I would speak to you about. Come with me.”

They both get up and leave, and Taehyung sighs, embarassed by how obvious her effort at giving their guest an opportunity to be alone with Seokjin are. He’s sure they all share the sentiment, but surely there is a better way to give them privacy than this. 

A servant comes in not a minute later, looking unsure herself with her orders. “Er, master Taehyung... Your mother says you are needed upstairs.”

Seokjin visibly tenses, but Taehyung has no choice but to leave. Any other action would expose their mother’s matrimonial scheming even more inelegantly than they already are. He sends his brother an apologetic smile as he closes the door behind him, hoping for the best. 

Taehyung paces the room his mother has them all waiting expectantly in, worried for Seokjin. It is equally possible that the two of them downstairs are just sitting in an awkward silence, waiting for Mrs. Kim’s shenanigans to be over, instead of confessing their love for one another. Their mother seems to forget that men are not quite like the rabbits that they keep in the backyard, which will obediently mate if put in the same cage. 

“Mother, please let me go down to Seokjin. I promised I would stay with him,” pleads Taehyung.

She is completely insensitive to either of her sons’ plights, it seems. “Stay where you are,” she orders. “Five more minutes will do the trick.”

She looks very pleased with herself, and for all of their sakes Taehyung prays she has reason to. He hops down the stairs when his mother judges that a sufficient amount of time has passed, and quickly enters the room he was previously forced to leave. The sight he is greeted with is an encouraging one: both men are standing by the fireplace, whispering to each other, hands clasped together between them. It seems there is a lesson to be learned from the breeding of rabbits, perhaps. 

“Oh, I am so sorry,” he says, turning to leave, as he does not wish to disturb them in any way. 

“No. No, don’t go, Taehyungie,” his brother tells him. 

So Taehyung stays, keeping his back turned to give them a semblance of privacy nonetheless. Mr. Jung whispers something in Seokjin’s ear, and then gives him what sounds like a tender kiss to his cheek before announcing that he shall go seek out Mr. Kim. No doubt to ask for his son’s hand in marriage. 

“Well?” Taehyung asks expectantly once he has left. 

“Oh, Taehyung-ah!” Seokjin exclaims, wasting no time in rushing into his brother’s open arms. “I’m so happy! It is too much. Oh, why can’t everyone be as happy as I am?” Seokjin is smiling wider than Taehyung has ever seen him do before, and it is truly a lovely sight to behold. “He loves me, Taehyungie. He loves me!”

“Of course he does,” Taehyung says confidently. 

“He told me he always loved me, all the time,” Seokjin says through giggles. “He didn’t believe… I must go and tell Mamma! Could you believe things could end in this happy way?”

“I could and I do.”

“Oh, Taehyungie… How shall I bear so much happiness?”

Taehyung laughs at how genuinely conflicted Seokjin seems at the thought. 

Mr. Kim is delighted to accept Mr. Jung as his son-in-law, indeed going as far as to declare that he might be one of the few men whose society he can tolerate with equanimity. A high compliment indeed, coming from him. 

The rest of the day is spent congratulating Seokjin on his engagement. 

“I have no doubt you will do very well together,” affirms their father. “You’re each of you so complying that nothing will ever be resolved upon,” he teases. “So easy that every servant will cheat you and so generous that you will always exceed your income.”

Seokjin’s smile speaks volumes on how much he looks forward to all of that. 

“Exceed their income! What are you talking about?” scolds Mrs. Kim. “Don’t you know how rich he is?” Turning to take Seokjin’s hand, her eyes grow a little misty. “I am so happy. Oh, I knew how it would be. I was sure you could not be so beautiful for nothing.”

Seokjin blushes and promptly thanks her, and Taehyung realises that his own cheeks are starting to hurt from being stretched too wide by the smile he has been constantly wearing. Lord knows how much Seokjin’s face must be making him suffer. 

“Oh, Taehyung-ah, if I could only see you as happy,” Seokjin tells him later. “If there were only such another man for you,” he adds dreamily. 

“If you were to give me forty such men, I could never be as happy as you,” Taehyung says truthfully. Because he lacks his brother’s inherent goodness and because there could only be one man for him, and he is gone. “Perhaps, if I have very good luck, I may, in time, meet with another Mr. Pent.”

There is silence between them for a total of about three seconds before they look at each other and fall about laughing, drunk on their own shared happiness. 

o o o

A carriage more luxurious than any that had previously been stationed there pulls up in front of the Kim residence one sunny afternoon. As per usual, Dahyun is the first to spot it, and subsequently alerts the rest of the family. By the time she tells Taehyung, who was quietly reading in his room, her entreprise is rendered pointless by a loud voice coming from downstairs. 

“What an extremely small hall!” their unexpected visitor claims in lieu of announcement. 

Taehyung had heard that voice enough to recognise it: it’s Lady Lee Sunmi’s. The reason for her visit, however, remains a mystery. 

“If you will wait here, Your Ladyship, I’ll tell my mistress you are here,” Taehyung hears a servant say as he rushes down the stairs. 

“No, I will not wait. Where is he? Is this the drawing room?”

It isn’t, and fortunately, by the time she finds it, Taehyung, Seokjin, Dahyun and their mother are all sitting in it. 

“Lady Lee Sunmi,” their servant warns rather than announces. 

They all stand, bowing and curtsying for their eminent guest. Lady Sunmi doesn’t look impressed. She walks in like she owns the place and takes the comfiest seat for herself. Taehyung wouldn’t have expected any less of her. 

“That lady, I suppose, is your mother,” she finally says, addressing Taehyung as he is the only one she knows. 

“Yes, she is,” Taehyung confirms. “Mamma, this is Lady Lee Sunmi.” 

Lady Sunmi merely nods in acknowledgement. “You have a very small park here,” she notes, seeming as displeased as if it were hers. It definitely can’t compare to Rosings’, but small isn’t an adjective Taehyung would have used to describe their estate. “And this must be a most inconvenient sitting room for the evening in summer. Why, the windows are full west.”

“Indeed, they are, Your Ladyship,” agrees Mrs. Kim, “but we never sit in here after dinner. We have -” 

She is cut off by Lady Sunmi suddenly standing up. 

“Mr. Kim,” she tells Taehyung, “there seemed to be a prettyish kind of little wilderness on one side of your lawn. I should be glad to take a turn in it, if you would favour me with your company.”

She leaves the room, not even bothering to check if Taehyung is following her. He does, leaving his family utterly confused by the whole encounter, though he himself is in the same predicament. Lady Sunmi marches along the lawn, stopping when she judges the location nice enough for her fine taste and giving Taehyung a chance to catch up with her. 

“You can be at no loss to understand the reason for my journey, Mr. Kim,” she finally declares. 

“Indeed, you are mistaken, Madam,” Taehyung answers hesitantly. “I am quite unable to account for the honour of seeing you here.”

“Mr. Kim, you ought to know I am not to be trifled with. But however insincere you choose to be, you shall not find me so,” she says, making Taehyung increasingly curious as to the nature of her accusations against him. “A report of an alarming nature reached me two days ago. I was told not only that your brother was to be most advantageously married, but that you, Mr. Kim Taehyung, would be soon afterwards united to my own nephew, Mr. Park.”

Taehyung gapes in surprise, watching the woman walk in predatory circles around him, no doubt hoping to bring down all his defences by rendering him dizzy. 

“Though I know it must be a scandalous falsehood,” she goes on, “I instantly resolved on setting off for this place to make my sentiments known to you.”

“If you believed it to be impossible, I wonder you took the trouble of coming so far,” Taehyung frowns. “What would your ladyship propose by it?”

“At once to insist upon having such a report universally contradicted.”

“Your coming to Longbourn to see me will be taken as a confirmation of it, if, indeed, such a report exists,” Taehyung supplies instead. 

She gives him a severe look. “This is not to be borne. Mr. Kim, I insist on being satisfied. Has my nephew made you an offer of marriage?”

Taehyung looks up to the sky, taking a moment to reflect on his answer. “Your ladyship had declared it to be impossible,” he settles on - though perhaps provoking her further was not his best move. 

She huffs, stopping her pacing. “It ought to be so, but your arts and allurements may have made him forget what he owes to himself and all the family. You may have drawn him in.”

Taehyung would laugh at the thought of him having put the slightest effort into seducing her nephew, if he didn’t fear the risk of angering her more than she is already. “If I had, I should be the last person to confess it.”

Lady Sunmi closes her eyes in a show of exasperation. “Mr. Kim, do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such language as this. I am almost the nearest relation he has, and I am entitled to know all his nearest concerns.”

“But you are not entitled to know mine, nor will such behaviour as this induce me to be explicit,” counters Taehyung. 

“Let me be rightly understood.” If Taehyung thought she wasn’t making much effort to hide her displeasure beforehand, now it seems that pretense has vanished entirely. “This match, to which you have the presumption to aspire, can never take place. Mr. Park is engaged to my daughter. Now what have you to say?”

“Only this: that if he is so, you can have no reason to suppose he’ll make an offer to me.”

“The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind,” she provides, resuming the encircling of her young prey. “From their infancy, they have been intended for each other. It was the favourite wish of his mother, as well as mine. While she was in her cradle, we planned the union, and now to be prevented by the upstart pretensions of a young man without family connections or fortune! Is this to be endured? It shall not be. Your alliance would be a disgrace. Your name would never even be mentioned by any of us.”

“These would be heavy misfortunes, indeed,” Taehyung replies in a tone that implies quite the opposite. 

“Obstinate, headstrong boy! I’m ashamed of you. I have not been in the habit of brooking disappointment.”

“That will make your ladyship’s situation at present more pitiable, but it will have no effect on me,” he retorts. 

“I will not be interrupted. If you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere in which you‘ve been brought up,” she declares condescendingly. 

Taehyung has had enough. “Your ladyship, in marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman. I am a gentleman’s son. So far, we are equal.”

“But who is your mother? Who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition,” she hisses aggressively. 

“Whatever my connections may be, if your nephew does not object to them, they can be nothing to you.”

“Tell me once and for all! Are you engaged to him?” she practically shouts, losing her cool altogether. 

Taehyung pauses, considering his next words. “I am not,” he finally admits, wondering why it cost him so much to say those three little words. 

She sighs in obvious relief, but the conversation is unfortunately not over. “And will you promise me never to enter into such an engagement?”

“I will make no promise of the kind,” Taehyung states with finality, “and I must beg you not to importune me any further on the subject.”

He turns and walks away for good measure, quieting the voices inside of him whispering that he was brought up better than that. Of course, Lady Sunmi follows him. 

“Not so hasty, if you please. I have another objection. Your youngest sister’s infamous elopement. I know it all. Oh, is such a girl to be my nephew’s sister-in-law? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?”

Taehyung turns to face her, this time determined to make himself quite clear, since apparently his previous discourse lacked that particular quality. “You can have nothing further to say. You have insulted me by every possible method. I must beg to return to the house.”

“You… you have no regard then for the honour and credit of my nephew? Unfeeling, selfish boy! You refuse to oblige me. You refuse the claims of duty, honour, gratitude. You are determined to ruin him and make him the contempt of the world.”

Taehyung is determined to do no such things. Their walking has led them right back to her carriage, and Taehyung thinks it very appropriate as he insists she must now take her leave. 

“I am only resolved to act in a manner which will constitute my own happiness, without reference to you or to any person so wholly unconnected with me,” he says firmly. 

“And this is your final resolve?” The clench in Taehyung’s jaw is answer enough. “Very well. I shall know how to act. I take no leave of you, Mr. Kim. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased,” she declares as she climbs into the carriage. “Drive on.” 

It is not until the carriage is but a speck in the distance that Taehyung finally allows himself to ease the tension which seems to have taken hold of his entire body. One does not take the decision to cross such a powerful woman lightly, but Taehyung is certain he will not come to regret his words. He said them for good reason. 

o o o

Taehyung is called into his father’s study two days later. He is still a little shaken by his conversation with Lady Sunmi, of which he recounted every word to Seokjin and not one to the other members of their family. He can’t even remember what excuse he invented to justify her coming. 

“I’ve received a letter this morning,” his father informs him, “which has astonished me exceedingly, from Mr. Pent.”

Oh. Taehyung should have expected that his cousin would comment on what he knew of Taehyung’s encounter with his most noble patroness. 

“What can he have to say?” Taehyung asks, trying his best to sound nonchalant even though he will be hanging to his father’s every word. 

“Well, he begins with congratulations on the approaching nuptials of my eldest son, but I shan’t sport with your intelligence by, uhm, reading his remarks on that topic,” he states generously, scanning the contents of the letter in his hands. “Ah, yes, here, here. He writes: ‘your son Taehyung, it is presumed, will not long bear the name of Kim after his eldest brother has resigned it and the chosen partner of his fate may be reasonably looked up to as one of the most illustrious personages in the land.’” Can you guess who he means, Taehyungie? Hmm?” he prompts, sounding highly amused. 

Taehyung shakes his head, hoping his expression doesn’t reflect his worry half as much as he feels it. 

“The answer comes out here,” Mr. Kim says, flipping the page and reading on. “‘My motive for cautioning you’, says Mr. Pent, ‘is as follows: his aunt, Lady Lee Sunmi, does not look on the match with a friendly eye.’”. He pauses, looking at his son with a gleeful twinkle in his own eyes. “Mr. Park, you see, is the man he is referring to. Mr. Park, of all men! Who never looks at another except to see their blemish,” he chuckles, then looks back at Taehyung when he notices his son not joining him in his amusement. “Are you not diverted?”

Taehyung plasters a smile on his face, faking an unconvincing laugh. It’s a blessing his father isn’t all too attentive. “Oh, yes.”

“Mr. Park, who probably never looked at you in his life before. Ha, this is admirable!” Mr. Kim claims. Oh, if he knew. 

Taehyung puts a hand into his pocket, bringing his longing heart a small comfort as his fingers brush against the handkerchief that he carries with him. The one that bears the initials of the man he has fallen in love with. 

o o o

Taehyung is practising his drawing skills, so far with little success. To his defence, it is difficult to make a faithful portrait of someone who insists on agitating themselves even while occupied with some sewing work. No one could ever accuse Dahyun of being too passive, that much is certain. Seokjin is sitting beside them, reading a letter from Aunt Yongsun. Secretly, Taehyung is cherishing every instant he still gets to spend with his brother, for he knows that he shall miss his company terribly once the elder goes to live with his husband, after their wedding. 

The monotony of their activities is broken by a servant announcing Mr. Jung and Mr. Park. 

“Good day to you,” greets Mr. Jung, his gaze immediately catching onto Taehyung’s brother, as if Seokjin were the center of his universe. 

In a not entirely different manner, Taehyung seeks out Mr. Park’s gaze. He looks well, though perhaps a little restless, he notes as Mr. Jung takes Seokjin’s hand and tenderly kisses it. 

“This is a fine day. Should we, perhaps, all walk toward Meryton?” Mr. Jung suggests. 

They all agree to his fine proposal, except Mrs. Kim who claims not to care for the exercise. The five of them set off, Seokjin taking the lead and his fiancé’s arm. Taehyung walks with Mr. Park, and Dahyun trails behind them. 

“Taehyung-ah,” she calls out as they pass another path, “do you mind if I just run down the lane here to call on my friend Song Yuqi?”

“No, not at all,” Taehyung says, waving her off. 

He and Mr. Park walk in peaceful silence while Taehyung tries to find the best way to word what he wants to express, the occasion too good to pass. 

“Mr. Park…” he starts hesitantly. Mr. Park stops and turns to face him, attentive. “I can go no longer without thanking you for your kindness to my poor sister. Ever since I have known of it, I have been most anxious to tell you how grateful I am for my family and for myself.” The gentlemen appears somewhat surprised, so Taehyung elaborates. “You must not blame my aunt for telling me. Yerim betrayed it first, and then I couldn’t rest till I knew everything. I know what trouble and what… mortification it must have cost you.” 

Mr. Park resumes walking, perhaps embarrassed that Taehyung brought up the subject. Taehyung wants nothing less than to make him uncomfortable, but he must be allowed to thank him properly. 

“Please let me say this. Please allow me to thank you on behalf of all my family,” he continues anxiously, matching his companion’s steady pace, “since they don’t know to whom they are indebted.”

Mr. Park stops again. “If you will thank me, let it be for yourself alone. Your family owes me nothing. As much as I respect them, I believe I thought only of you,” he reveals in a breath. 

Taehyung lets out a sigh, nervous for reasons unknown to him. Mr. Park looks ahead at the engaged couple lost in their own little old, as if to draw courage from their felicity. 

“You are too generous to trifle with me,” he says. “If your feelings are what they were last april, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged. But one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.”

In his chest, Taehyung’s heart runs wild, skipping several beats. It prevents him from answering immediately, and so Mr. Park looks down at the ground in resignation. However, Taehyung recovers his ability to speak before his companion can say anything else. 

“Oh, my feelings. My feelings are…” He laughs breathlessly, not sure how to express them. How does one put into words a sentiment so overwhelming that it consumes one’s very soul? “I’m ashamed to remember what I said then. My feelings are so different. In fact,” he discloses, looking Mr. Park straight in the eye, “they are quite the opposite.” 

For a while not another word is said, because they both know nothing can be added that wouldn’t be superfluous. Mr. Park soaks in the confession, smiling slowly as the meaning slowly becomes clear to him. Shyly, he seeks out Taehyung’s hand, and they resume walking. It makes Taehyung weak in the knees as his heart hammers at twice its usual pace. 

“Lady Sunmi told me of her meeting with you,” Mr. Park explains. Perhaps Taehyung should start thinking of him as Jimin, he muses. “I may say that her disclosure had quite the opposite effect to the one she intended. It taught me to hope as I’d scarcely ever allowed myself to hope before. I knew that, had you absolutely decided against me, you would have acknowledged it openly.”

Taehyung laughs at that. “Yes, you know enough of my frankness to believe me capable of that! After abusing you so abominably to your face, I could have no scruple of abusing you to all your relations,” he says self-deprecatingly. 

“But what did you say of me that I did not deserve? My behaviour to you at the time was unpardonable. I can hardly think of it without abhorrence,” Mr. Park - Jimin - admits with a sad smile. “Your reproof I shall never forget. You know not how those words have tortured me.”

“I had not the smallest idea of their ever being taken in such a way.”

“I can easily believe it,” Jimin chuckles. His skin burns Taehyung’s where their hands touch, and Taehyung does not bother trying to fight the blush he can already feel on his cheeks, conscious that the effort would be vain. “You thought me devoid of every proper feeling, I am sure you did. The turn of your countenance I shall never forget, and you said that I could not have addressed you in any possible way that would induce you to accept me.”

“Oh, do not repeat what I said then,” Taehyung whines, looking away. 

“No. I’ve been a selfish being all my life. As a child I was given good principles, but was left to follow them in pride and conceit, and such I might still have been but for you, my dearest, loveliest Taehyung.”

He says those words with infinite tenderness and delicacy, drawing circles on Taehyung’s skin with his thumb. Taehyung can’t imagine a better man than the one beside him, whom he will one day be lucky enough to marry. He can barely comprehend how his body can contain so much happiness as he feels in that moment, on the receiving end of Park Jimin’s welcome attentions and compliments. 

Jimin quickly surveys their surroundings and, seeing no one, steps a little closer to Taehyung. He puts a gentle hand on his waist and whispers, “Can I kiss you, Taehyung-ah?”

Taehyung bends down and presses his lips to Jimin’s, like he’s seen the servants do occasionally. Jimin brings his hand to his cheek when he pulls away, pressing their foreheads together so that it feels like the rest of the world has faded away and been replaced by a small chapel of their own. 

“Was that your first kiss?” Jimin asks softly. 

Taehyung blushes a deeper shade of red, embarrassed that his lack of experience was so painfully evident. “Well,” he splutters, “Jeongguk and I did experiment a little, once, when we were fourte -”

Jimin playfully slaps his chest, laughing. The sound is like honey to Taehyung’s ears. Jimin looks like a new person here in front of him, relaxed, free and happy, and Taehyung can’t wait to explore every new facette of his personality. They’re in no hurry, they have their whole married life ahead of them for that. 

“I don’t want to know what you got up to with anyone else, fourteen or not,” he says lightly but with a hint of sincerity bleeding in, making Taehyung smile. And then he snakes a hand behind Taehyung’s nape and kisses him, this time taking the lead. There is nothing chaste about their second kiss, and Taehyung thinks he can taste months of yearning on Jimin’s tongue. It’s all at once wet and hot, sweet and tender, loving and giving. It opens Taehyung’s eyes, as his eyelids fall closed, to a world he’d only ever read about in the secrecy of his bedchamber - one he can’t for Jimin to introduce him to in the secrecy of theirs. 

“Come on, we must catch up with Hoseok and your brother before they get suspicious of our absence,” Jimin says when he pulls away. Taehyung simply nods, not used to producing anything other than breathless pants anymore. His fiancé looks amused by his dazed appearance, smirking teasingly. He presses one last kiss to Taehyung’s cheek, like he can’t help himself, before taking his hand as they start walking again. 

o o o

Taehyung’s next task is announcing the news of his engagement to his family, which so far appears like it may prove to be more challenging than securing the engagement itself was. 

“No, you are joking,” Seokjin declares dismissively when Taehyung tells him that evening, as they are about to go to bed. “It is impossible.”

Taehyung laughs at the honesty of his reaction. “This is a wretched beginning. If you don’t believe me, I’m sure no one else will,” he says good-naturedly. There is nothing that could upset him this evening, not after such a happy day. “Indeed, I am in earnest. He still loves me, and we are engaged.”

“No, Taehyungie. It can’t be true,” Seokjin insists, frowning. “I know how much you dislike him.”

“Oh, no. It is all forgotten.” The younger stands and goes to sit on the edge of the bed, next to Seokjin. “Perhaps I didn’t always love him as well as I do now, but in such cases as these, a good memory is unpardonable.”

Seokjin stares at him, as if searching the truth on his brother’s features. “Dearest Taehyung-ah, do be serious. How long have you loved him?”

“Well, it’s been coming on so gradually, I hardly know,” he replies truthfully. “But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.”

He is jesting again, but it is true in some way. The appearance of a dripping wet Jimin, handsomer than any naiades could ever dream of being, had certainly been an incentive to rethink his position when it came to disliking Park Jimin. The opulence of his residence, however, had not factored into his decision. 

“Taehyungie!” Seokjin scolds as he laughs. 

As previously agreed on with his fiancé, Jimin comes to Longbourn the next morning in order to officially ask Mr. Kim for his son’s hand in marriage. Taehyung waits anxiously outside the door, pacing like a madman. He supposes he would be able to hear shouts and screams if their meeting was going very badly, so he must conclude that it is proceeding in at least a civil manner. 

After about a quarter of an hour, Jimin emerges, sending Taehyung an encouraging smile when he is called into the study himself. His father gets up when he enters. 

“Are you out of your senses to be accepting this man, Taehyungie?” he enquires, sounding genuinely concerned. “Have you not always hated him?”

“Papa…” Taehyung squirms. 

“I’ve given him my consent. He’s the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare refuse anything.” Taehyung lets out a nervous laughter. That sounds like the man he fell in love with, for sure, he thinks with a hint of pride. “But let me advise you to think the better of it. I know your disposition, Taehyung. My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life. He’s rich to be sure, but will he make you happy?”

“Have you any objections apart from your belief in my indifference?” Taehyung asks, desperately wanting to clarify that point. 

“None whatever. We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of man, but this would be nothing if you really liked him.”

“I do,” he confesses hastily, smiling. “I do like him. I love him. Indeed, he has no improper pride. He’s perfectly amiable. If only you knew his generous nature,” Taehyung beams at the thought that his father will have ample opportunity to get to know Jimin better. “I didn’t always love him,” he admits, “but I love him now so very dearly. He is truly the best man I have ever known.”

Mr. Kim seems a little taken aback by the declaration, but that does not lessen his delight in bearing witness to his son’s happiness. “Well, my dear, if this be the case, he deserves you. I could not have parted with you to anyone less worthy, Taehyung-ah.” 

He gives his son a bittersweet smile and a tender kiss to the forehead. Taehyung takes that as his cue to exit. 

Jimin is waiting for him in the corridor and, since there is no one there to denounce their highly improper behaviour, steals a kiss from Taehyung’s lips. Then together they make their way to the drawing room, where Mr. Jung, Seokjin and his mother are discussing wedding dates. 

“Three children soon-to-be married,” she congratulates herself as they take a seat. “Oh, I have done very well indeed, it would seem.” 

Taehyung has to bite his tongue to stop himself from objecting to her taking all the credit for their union, not after all that he and Jimin had to endure in order to get to the happy state they are in now. It doesn’t matter anymore, he reminds himself as he gets lost in Jimin’s loving gaze, directed at him from across the room. The future is the only thing he cares about anymore, and it is brighter than ever.

FIN.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, and hope you didn't find it a waste of your time! I wish you a nice day/night, wherever you may be xxx


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